


Gunfire Lullaby

by CarolPeletier



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-01-15 17:22:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 48,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12325470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarolPeletier/pseuds/CarolPeletier
Summary: What happens when you're left with nothing but the clothes on your back and the memory of what once was?  Carol was happy.  She had a good life.  But when a chain of events sends her life spiraling out of control, she must fight to keep going and to save everything and everyone she loves.





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing from The Walking Dead.  All characters belong to the creators of the television show and graphic novel series.

Gunfire Lullaby

Chapter 1

“Mom?” Sophia asked from the backseat of the old yellow Jeep Cherokee.

“Yeah, hon?”  Carol raised her sunglasses and peeked at her daughter in the rear view mirror.

“Do I _have_ to go to school today?”

“We’ve been over this, Sophia,” Carol insisted.  Sophia sighed and held her favorite doll a little tighter to her chest.  It was some old rag doll her she’d convinced her mother to buy her at a rummage sale one day.  After a few washings, it was still old and tattered, but Sophia loved it just the same. 

“But my stomach hurts.” 

“Does it really hurt, or are you just worried about this spelling test?”  She glanced at her daughter in the mirror again.  Sophia’s shoulders fell.  “Honey, you’re ready.  I quizzed you twice yesterday, and you aced it both times.  You’re ready.”  Carol was proud that at ten, her daughter was serious about her grades.  Sophia had always been smart as a whip, easily surpassing her classmates in every subject.  The teachers had pressed for Sophia to skip a grade, but with Sophia being so shy and having trouble making friends easily, Carol hadn’t wanted to traumatize her by putting her with kids she didn’t even know.

“I guess,” Sophia murmured.

“Hey,” Carol offered.  “Can I let you in on a little secret?”

“Yeah?”

“Even if you missed every single word, I would still love you just as much as I love you right now.  You know that?”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my mom.”

“Well, I am your mom, but it’s still true.  You’re so smart, Sophia.  I am _so_ proud of the young lady you’re becoming.  And there is nothing wrong with making mistakes.  I want you to know that.  Daddy and I are both so proud of you.”  Carol put her sunglasses back over her eyes and turned the corner toward Sunnybrook Elementary School. 

Carol’s cell phone chimed, and she glanced at the screen briefly.  “Huh.”

“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked.

“The school just sent out an emergency message.  They’re closing school today.  Too many kids and teachers are out sick, and they don’t have enough substitutes to cover.  I guess you get one more day to study, huh, Soph?”  Sophia’s eyes brightened, and she pursed her lips.

“They never close school.”

“Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.”  Carol turned the car around and headed back toward the highway.  “You wouldn’t mind to run a few errands with your mom today, would you?”

“You’re not going to work?”

“Well, I was going to make it a half day, but I think I’ll just take the whole day and hang out with you.  Sound good?”

“You can do that?” Sophia asked.  “What about all the sick kids?”

“Dr. Cloyd is covering for me today.  I’m sure if they need me, they’ll call.  They always do.”  She grabbed her cup of coffee from beside her and took a sip.  “What do you say we go shopping and grab some lunch and maybe a movie to watch when we get home?  Then when daddy gets home from work, we can quiz you again.  Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” Sophia agreed. 

Carol was an attending pediatrician at Grady Memorial Children’s Hospital just outside of Atlanta.  She had originally gone to medical school with the hopes of being a general surgeon, but during her residency, she’d found that while she enjoyed various branches of the medical field, pediatrics was her niche.  It helped that she had a young daughter at home, so she was able to relate to her patients better than some of her colleagues. 

She was fortunate to work with a team of amazing doctors, and she was even more fortunate that she was able to work hours that gave her more time with her family. Things were far from perfect, and her busy career kept her away for long hours, sometimes more than a day, but she was able to make up for that with long weekends and more time off than she’d ever been able to take as a resident.  She loved her job, she loved her little patients, but most of all, she loved that she was able to help provide for her family and give Sophia the things she needed and wanted, in moderation, of course.

“I have to make a quick stop at Dr. Prescott’s office.”

“Are you sick, Mom?”

“No, honey.  When you’re grown up, you’ll understand.”  Of course, the school would have to cancel on the day of her yearly exam, of all days.  At least Dr. Prescott was the family doctor, and Sophia liked the receptionist Tara very well.  She figured Sophia wouldn’t get too bored for the short amount of time she’d be there.

“Oh, so it’s got to do with _that_ stuff.”

“What stuff?” Carol laughed.

“The stuff you talked to me about that you keep under the sink in the bathroom.”

“Well, sort of,” Carol laughed.  “Every woman has to have these appointments.  You’ll see when you’re older.  And it’s not that bad.  It’s just an appointment to make sure everything’s ok.”

“Everything’s ok, right, Mom?”

“Of course.  Like I said, it’s just a checkup.” 

By the time they pulled into the parking lot of the doctor’s office, Sophia had pulled out her list of spelling words and was going over them.  Carol smiled to herself and ran a brush through her short, pixie haircut.  She had gone completely grey a couple of years ago.  She joked that being a children’s doctor had zapped the color right out of her hair, but the truth was that her mother had gone grey early.  Carol remembered seeing her own first strands of silver at thirty.  By the time Sophia was five, she’d given up on dying her hair, and now, she actually really liked it, and she often got complimented for the striking color that highlighted her bright, blue eyes.  It helped that her husband told her she was beautiful just the way she was.  Sometimes, even the smallest things had the biggest impact.

“Hey, there’s my favorite patient!” Tara, the receptionist, said from behind the window when she saw Sophia walk in with Carol.  “Quick, spell pneumonia.”

“Easy!” Sophia laughed, running over to give Tara a high five.  “P-n-e-u-m-o-n-i-a.” 

“Yeah.  I think she’s right.  Yep.  Definitely.  What are we seeing you for today, Miss Sophia?”

“It’s not for me.  Mom has one of _those_ appointments.”  She made a face.  “Whatever that means.”

“Oh.”  A laugh fell out of Tara’s mouth, and she looked at Carol knowingly.  “That’s right.  I’ve got you down right here.  Dr. Prescott’s just finishing with another patient, but the nurse can take you on back so you can put on a gown.”

“Is it ok for Sophia to hang out in the waiting room?  You’ll keep an eye on her?”

“Of course.  No school today?”

“No, they cancelled.  I guess  they have a lot of people out sick.”

“Oh, yeah.  I heard there was something nasty going around.  Yeah, hey, Soph, you can have control of the TV remote.  Just don’t put on Jerry Springer.”

“I have to study,” Sophia insisted.

“Oh,” Tara offered, getting a little shrug from Carol.  “Well, you do that, and I’ll be right back, ok?”

“Ok,” Sophia promised, sitting down in the chair closest to the receptionist’s window.  Tara headed back to find the nurse, and Carol fidgeted with her keys for a moment.  Within a couple of minutes, the nurse came back and motioned for Carol to follow her.

By the time Carol was stripped down and draped in a thin gown with her feet up in the stirrups, she suddenly started feeling anxious.  She was so used to these exams, and they didn’t even really embarrass her anymore, but still, she worried.  She was forty-five, the same age her mother was when she’d been diagnosed with cervical cancer.  Carol had made an effort to make sure she was getting her checkups regularly, and so far, everything had been fine.  Still, it worried her for herself and for Sophia, because she didn’t want to have to go through or watch her daughter go through what her own mother had.  It was always at the back of her mind, even when she got good results from the exams.

“Carol?”  Dr. Jacqui Prescott tapped on the door about five minutes later and poked her head in.  “You all ready?”

“Hi, Dr. Prescott,” Carol offered with a nervous smile.

“It’s that time again, already, huh?”

“Yeah,” Carol murmured.  “I guess so.”

“Did I see Sophia out in the waiting room?”

“Yeah,” she murmured, folding her arms behind her head to try to get comfortable and to prop herself up a little.  “School was cancelled for the day.”  Jacqui sat down on her stood and picked up Carol’s chart. 

“Any changes in your health lately?”

“No, not really.”

“You mentioned at the last exam that your periods were becoming irregular.  Is that still going on?”

“Yeah.  I’ll get them early and then I’ll get them late.  I mean, my grandmother was my age when she started going through the change.  My mother was gone before…well, anyway, I’m just glad that Sophia surprised us before I missed my chance.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about, and I _don’t_ think this is menopause.  When was the last day of your last period, if you can remember?”

“Fifty-eight days ago.

“Oh, that’s specific.  I wish more of my patients kept track of those things,” Jacqui chuckled.  “They say doctors make the worst patients, but I think you’re the exception, Carol.”  Carol chuckled at that and shook her head.

“I’m pretty sure it’ll be starting any day.  I had some spotting a few weeks ago, but that was it.  I’ve been tired, not just from work.  Just tired.  And achy.  My breasts have been tender, and I’ve been having some cramping.”

“Alright,” the doctor said with a nod, snapping on a latex glove.  “Any pelvic pain?”  Carol shook her head.  “Good. How about sex?  Any pain?”

“None,” Carol pointed out. 

“Alright, I know you’ve gone through this before, but I like to remind my patients that this is going to be a little cold.”

“Thanks,” Carol grimaced, as Jacqui began the exam.  Carol closed her eyes and begged a silent prayer that everything was still just fine and that she could stop worrying for a little while longer.

*~*~*~*

“Daddy’s home!” Sophia called from downstairs.  “Mom!  Daddy’s home!”

“I heard you, Soph!” Carol called from the upstairs bathroom, where she’d just finished toweling off her hair.  She turned her attention back to the mirror over the sink and stared at her own reflection.  Her gaze faltered, and she bowed her head, taking a steady, deep breath. 

How was she going to explain this one?

_“Any nausea, Carol?”_

_“No.  Not at all.  Why?”_

_“You said you experienced some spotting.  Was it heavy, or…”_

_“Well, no.  I mean, it was just a little…why are you asking me this?”_

Carol stared down at the little white stick on her sink.  Those two bright pink lines seemed to stare right back up at her.  She blinked a couple of times, but they didn’t go away. 

The doctor’s suspicions had been confirmed.  During the pelvic exam, she’d felt _something_ that had led her to order a pregnancy test.  Sure enough, it had come back positive, and despite that, Carol had been left with a feeling of disbelief.  So, she’d snuck a box of pregnancy tests in with the groceries and slipped it to the cashier while Sophia wasn’t looking, because surely Jacqui was wrong.

But she wasn’t. 

_“I can’t be pregnant.”_

_“Well, it looks like you are.  I take it this wasn’t planned.”_

_“Well, not planned, no.  And definitely not expected.  I thought…oh God, I’m a doctor, I should have…I should have known.  Are you sure?”_

_“Is this…good news?  Is this something you want to talk about?”_

_“Well, it’s not…it’s not bad news.  I guess we’d just accepted that Sophia was going to be an only child.  We tried for so long to have another one, and…I guess with my work and his work, we just realized that this was it. Just the three of us.”_

_“So you’re ’re not worried about telling your husband?”_

_“Well…no.  Not worried.  I just don’t think I know how to tell him.  I mean, what do I say?  Hey, honey?  You know how we couldn’t get pregnant again after Sophia?  Well, surprise, because we’re starting all over again, and we’re going to be eligible for the senior discount before the kid graduates high school!”_

_“Carol, breathe.  I need you to calm down.”_

_“I’m calm.  I’m…I mean, I came here worried that something was going to be wrong, and then you tell me that…I…”_

_“I have no reason to believe this won’t be a healthy pregnancy.  Now, yes, you are considered high risk because of your age, but I’ve seen women your age and older give birth to perfectly healthy babies with no complications.  So I don’t want you to worry at all, alright?”_

Carol realized that she had tears in her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away and sniffled before tightening the belt of her robe around her middle.  She heard his footsteps on the stairs and then the landing, and her stomach felt like it had jumped into her throat.  She felt dizzy, and she leaned forward with her fingers white knuckling the sides of the marble countertop.

“You ok in there?”  Carol turned when she heard his voice and the gentle rap of his knuckles against the door.

“Yeah, come in,” she sniffled, wiping at her eyes again and shoving the little white stick behind the liquid soap bottle.  She greeted him with a smile, her blue eyes piercing into his, but he didn’t smile back.  He’d been married to her long enough to know when she was bullshitting him. 

“Babe, what’s wrong?”  Her smile faltered, and she sighed.

“Damn it, Daryl, how do you do that?”  Her shoulders slumped, and Daryl stepped into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.  He had his gun holster in one hand and had just unbuttoned the top two buttons of his uniform shirt. 

“What’s goin’ on?  Soph said you were in the shower, and she said you were real quiet today.  Everything go ok at the doctor?  I know you’ve been worried.”  He put his holstered gun and his badge aside, and he moved to pull her into a hug.

What was she supposed to say?  She’d gone over it a hundred different ways all afternoon, and none of those ways seemed like the best way to say it.  So, instead of saying anything, she buried her face against his neck and inhaled the scent of him, dug her fingers gently into his shoulders as he held her, and she trembled. 

“You’re scarin’ me, Carol.”

“I’m…everything’s fine,” she managed to bite out, sniffling and pulling back.  Daryl eyed her with disbelief, and he watched her turn and sit down on the edge of the bathtub.  “Dr. Prescott said she doesn’t expect the tests will come back with any problems.  And she says everything else seems to be ok, but, um, I’m not so sure.  I mean, I’m a doctor for crying out loud.  I should have known.  But I guess I’ve been so busy and…”

“What’s goin’ on?” he asked, a little more forcefully, kneeling down in front of her.  “You’re scarin’ me here, because I know you, and when you don’t wanna talk about it…it’s…”   He took her hands in his own, and Carol felt her heart skip a beat.  His hands were shaking.  He was so scared, and she knew she couldn’t let him start thinking the worst.

“I’m pregnant, Daryl.  I’m not sick.  I’m not dying.  I’m pregnant, and I’m terrified, because I never thought this would happen.”  She watched the emotion in Daryl’s eyes change from fear to relief to, what was that?  Yep, that was happiness.  Joy.  He started to smile.  “Don’t do that…you know, I’m a freaking mess here, and…”

“You’re pregnant?” he asked.  He was smiling wider now, and his hands relaxed and moved from her hands to her knees.  Then he was reaching up and touching her stomach, and she brought her hand over his, curling her fingers around his.

“You’re ok with this?”

“Ok with it?” Daryl asked.  “’Course I am.  Shit, I thought you were gonna tell me…hell, I don’t know.  But I didn’t think it was gonna be this.  This is…a baby?  We’re havin’ a baby?”

“Apparently,” she uttered, still a little uncertain of herself.  “I, um, Dr. Prescott think I’m about six or seven weeks.  I didn’t even know.  I mean, my period’s been out of whack, and…I guess I just didn’t think anything of it, you know?  I just thought…”

“You thought the worst,” he pointed out.

“Always have to be prepared,” she replied with a chuckle.  “I guess I just wasn’t prepared for this.”  His joy faltered slightly.

“You…are _you_ ok with this?” he asked softly, bringing his hands to rest on her thighs.  “If you ain’t…”  She cupped his face with her hands before gently stroking a rogue strange of hair out of his eyes.  She’d been on him about trimming his hair, but she also really kind of liked it in its sometimes unruly glory.

“I love you,” she whispered.  “I love our family.  And I love this baby.  I’m just scared of starting all over again.”

“We ain’t,” he promised.  “We ain’t startin’ over.  We’re just adding on to what we already got.  Soph’s gonna be so excited.”

“I don’t want to tell her yet, Daryl.  I want to wait and see the OBGYN first.  I want to make sure everything’s going to be ok before we get her hopes up.”  Daryl nodded then, before he tugged at her wrists and pulled her down with him on the floor.  His hands moved up her arms and over her shoulders, gently ghosting over the pulse points on her neck.  He kissed her then, softly on the lips, and then his mouth was on her neck.  “Daryl!  She’s just downstairs…”

“Mmmfff,” he murmured against her skin.  She bit back a laugh, and she waited for him to pull back so she could kiss him again.  “You tell anybody yet?”

“Just you,” she murmured, wrapping her arms a little tighter around his neck.  “I don’t want anybody else to know until I’m sure everything’s ok.”  Daryl gently ran his fingers through his wife’s soft, damp hair.  “How was your day, Officer Dixon?”

“Same old, same old,” he replied, leaning in and kissing her again.  “Bunch of traffic stops, not much else.” 

“Did you talk to Rick about supper Saturday night?”

“Yeah.  Looks like the whole family’s gonna make it.”

“Speaking of family.  Don’t forget, we have dinner at my Uncle Hershel’s tomorrow night.”  Daryl paused for a moment.  “You forgot, didn’t you?”

“Nah, I didn’t forget.”

“Daryl,” Carol groaned.  “You didn’t invite Rick over for drinks did you?”

“I can reschedule.”

“I can always call Hershel, and…”

“Nah, you don’t see him that much.  I know how much it means to ya.  I’ll call Rick and tell him.  Sorry I forgot.”  Daryl kissed her softly, and she smiled against his mouth.

“Well, how can I not forgive you after a kiss like that?” she asked softly, running her finger along the edge of his jaw. 

“Mom?  Daddy?” Sophia called from downstairs.

“Be right down, Soph!” Daryl called, getting up from off the floor and pulling Carol up to stand.  “Ow,” he snorted, as his knee popped when he stood. 

“See?” Carol pointed out.  “We might be getting too old for this.”

“Pffft,” Daryl snorted.  “We’re both in good shape, and we keep up with Soph just fine.  Hell, I just chased a burglar three blocks the other day.  And look at Hershel.  He’s what?  Seventy?  He’s got one in high school and one just outta college.  If he can do it, we sure as hell can.”  Carol eyed Daryl for a moment, and she frowned.  “Hey. This is good news.  It’s gonna be great.”  He kissed her again.  “Trust me?”

“Of course.  I love you.”

“Love you more.”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Carol Mason met Daryl Dixon in her third year of residency.  Daryl been grazed by a bullet in the line of duty, and she’d been the one to stitch him up.  He’d been quiet, and she’d found him to be the most awkward, sweet young police officer she’d ever met.  Apparently, her bedside manner had had quiet an effect on him, because a week later, he’d shown up at the ER with two cups of hot coffee and a couple of blueberry muffins.  They married exactly two years after that very first date. 

Sophia had been a welcome surprise, though Carol had honestly believed children were never in the cards for her.  Still, being a mother and a wife were Carol’s two very favorite things in the world.  She loved her job, and she loved her family, and she made certain that she was able to spend as much time as possible with them. 

Daryl Dixon was a hard working young police officer when they met, and he had gained the respect of many of his colleagues.  He’d started out reckless, taking unnecessary risks that got him hurt more often than not.  But the second Carol had agreed to date him, he’d begun to plan for a future, and there was no way they could have a future if he wasn’t there to be a part of it. 

By the time Sophia was born, she already had her daddy wrapped around her little finger.  Daryl still couldn’t get over how he had managed to get so lucky as to have a wife like Carol and a perfect, smart, funny little girl like Sophia. 

His parents had passed years ago.  His mother had been sick, and his father had been so broken hearted over her death that he’d pretty much drunk himself to his own.  Daryl had an older brother named Merle who found every excuse in the book to not be around.  Honestly, Daryl was pretty sure Merle was just jealous that his baby brother had found love and a family and a successful career and had made a decent life for himself.  Merle had never had a steady relationship and was often on the wrong side of the law.  

Carol’s parents were gone, too, and unfortunately for Sophia, she’d never gotten to meet any of her grandparents.  Still, there was Hershel, Carol’s mother’s brother, who had always thought of Carol like a daughter.  He had married later in life and had a daughter, Maggie, and when his wife had passed when Maggie was six, he’d re-married and had another daughter, Beth, whose sixteenth birthday they’d just celebrated a couple of months ago.

Hershel, Maggie and Beth were the only family Sophia knew aside from her parents.  Daryl had always expressed his anger that Merle had never come around after his niece was born.  But, he also figured that maybe that was for the best.  Whatever the case was, Merle still found time to send a card every year for the kid’s birthday with a fifty dollar bill in it.  To Sophia, Merle was just the guy that sent her money once a year.  Aside from that, he was a stranger.

Carol and Daryl had made a nice life for themselves.  Between her income and his, they’d bought a nice home in a nice area of town that had a big, fenced in yard.  As much as they worked, they still found time to make sure Sophia was taken care of, loved and that she saw the love her parents had for one another.

At least once a week, they made a point to have a family date night, where they’d all go out for ice cream or dinner or to see a movie.  And then after family date night, when Sophia was sleeping soundly in her room, Carol and Daryl would have their own date.  It wasn’t that they had to schedule sex.  It was more that if their weeks were so hectic and exhausting that they didn’t find time for intimacy, they would make sure to set aside one night a week, at least, where they could be together and enjoy one another and let the rest of the world melt away.

Tonight was supposed to be one of those date nights, but Sophia had worn herself and her parents out by having them quiz her on her spelling words.  By the time she’d had her bath and gotten to bed, it was late, and Carol was physically and emotionally drained.  Still, the second Daryl stepped into the bathroom with that towel wrapped around his waist and the water from the shower beading down his bare chest, she’d felt more awake than ever.

“Thought you’d be sleepin’ by now.”

“And miss date night?” Carol asked with a coy smile. 

“You remembered?” Daryl asked, locking the door and removing his towel.  Carol bit the tip of her index finger and let her gaze wander down her husband’s well-sculpted body.  Almost fifteen years of marriage, and his body still excited her in ways she couldn’t quite explain. 

“You think I’d forget?”  Honestly, she’d been insatiable lately.  The last few nights, she’d been so tired, but she’d pretty much pounced on him the second they were alone.  Looking back, she knew her hormones had been a little off kilter, but she’d just chalked that up to her period coming.  Well, now she knew better.

Daryl was already semi-hard.  It wouldn’t have taken much to have had him standing at full attention, but before Carol could even think of reaching out to him, he was crawling over her on the bed, opening up her robe and relishing the fact that she was completely naked underneath. 

“So fucking beautiful,” he growled, sucking at her neck, gently teasing one of her breasts with his open palm. “Love the way you taste.”

“Daryl,” she whispered, closing her eyes, treading her fingers through his hair, arching back as her body began to ache for more of his touch.  His mouth closed over a nipple, and she bit her lip, gasping softly as his tongue and teeth worked her over before moving to the other breast.  His hand moved gently down her stomach and down between her thighs.  She opened up for him, whimpering the moment his fingers danced across her most sensitive skin, teasing her in gentle circles, bringing her close as he traced her body with his eyes closed, a man who knew every inch of her from memory. 

It always felt like the first time, the way he looked at her with such awe, the way her skin prickled and flushed with each sweep of his gaze, each pass of his lips against her.  If anyone had told her fifteen years ago that he could still make her feel like a newlywed after all of those years, she’d have probably thought they were crazy.  But that was one thing that never became routine for them.  It was always passion, always love.  Carol was forever grateful she’d found a patient lover, an insatiable lover that understood her own needs and desires as well as his own.

Tonight, they took their time, enjoying one another, gentle and patient, and Daryl paused to kiss her stomach as settled between her legs.  She brought her hand to the back of his head, gently threading her fingers through his hair.  She bit her lip, looking down at him, and then he moved lower, kissing the sensitive flesh below her belly button, nipping at it as she arched back and opened herself up to him.

He pressed a kiss to her hip, smiling up at her as he nipped at the flesh there. 

“Tease,” she panted, almost breathless, voice hoarse as he finally tasted her, making her moan his name.  “Daryl, please…”

To say she’d been blessed to have this man as a husband was an understatement.  He never stopped surprising her, never stopped finding new ways to express his love for her.  He was a sensitive soul, and she loved that.  He was gruff and had the mouth of a sailor sometimes, but when they were alone, when he was at his most vulnerable, when they could both bare themselves to one another physically and emotionally, those were the moments she fell in love with him all over again.

She bit back a cry as her body trembled and thrummed beneath him.  She felt light headed, swimmy, and by the time he pulled himself over her and buried himself inside of her, she was half gone, head thrown back, mouth open in a silent cry as he pulled her leg around his waist and pushed deeper.

His lips ghosted over her pulse at her neck, and he nipped at the line of her jaw, whispered softly against her ear, kissed her lightly beneath her eyes, before he kissed her fully , hungrily, tongue tasting hers, drawing out a moan that brought him closer. 

Her hands gripped his shoulders urging him to move faster, and he moved with her, spurred on by the words she whispered in his ear, words that made the both of them blush, but it didn’t matter, because they weren’t meant for anyone else. 

He held on for her, made sure she came crashing down once more before he let go, and when they held each other after, his hand grazed sleepily over her hip, and she curled a little closer against his chest with a sleepy smile upon her lips.

Fifteen years.  It still felt brand new. 

*~*~*~*~*

“Can I _please_?” Sophia begged, hopping from one foot to the other, as Daryl and Carol stood outside of Hershel’s large farm house. 

“It’s ok, Carol.  I won’t let her out of my sight,” Beth insisted.  “I’m a good rider.  She can ride with me.”

“It’s true,” Maggie offered.  “She rides everywhere.  She’s almost better than me.”  At Beth’s grin, Maggie rolled her eyes.  “I said _almost_.”

“Well, it’s not my fault Daddy won’t let me get my license,” Beth pouted.  “I can drive the tractor better than he can!”

“I don’t doubt that,” Carol laughed.  Both of the Greene girls had been on that tractor since  before they could tie their own shoes.  When they were little, Hershel would hoist them up on his lap and let them steer.  “School’s almost out.  Any summer plans?”

“Me and Jimmy are gonna just hang out around the farm,” Beth offered innocently.

“Yeah, and Jimmy’s gonna be runnin’ while Daddy chases him with the shotgun if he comes around too much,” Maggie pointed out.  Beth rolled her eyes.

“I’m allowed to have a boyfriend.  _You_ have a boyfriend.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.  I’ve _had_ boyfriends.  There’s a difference,” Maggie pointed out.  “And you’re too young to understand, anyway.”  Beth just sighed and rolled her bright, green eyes.  There was a stark contrast in the half-sisters’ appearances.  Maggie was tall with dark hair and dark eyes, while Beth was short with green eyes and wavy blonde hair.  Carol could remember scooping Maggie up out of her cradle and rocking her to sleep some nights.  Even after they were married, Carol and Daryl would often keep both girls over night, taking them on little trips to the park.  They even drove them down to the coast so they could see the ocean, once.  Maggie and Beth had been like their own children, giving them a bit of practice before Sophia came along.

“Shit, I feel old,” Daryl grumbled.  He and Carol had gotten married when Maggie was missing her two front teeth and Beth was toddling around the farm in diapers. 

Carol laughed and took Daryl’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

“Mom, _please_?” Sophia begged again.

“Oh, alright.  But you wear a helmet, and you listen to everything Beth says.  Promise?”

“Promise!  You’re the best!” Sophia cheered, hugging her mother tightly.  Carol sighed and shook her head.

“Oh, _now_ I’m the best.  This morning, she only wanted her dad to drive her to school,” Carol sighed.  “Where’s your dad, Maggie?”

“He’s inside.  He’s been pretty tired today.”

“Oh, I hope he’s not coming down with that virus that’s going around.”

“I actually told him to cancel, but he wanted to see everybody.  I know he’s been lonely since Annette died.  Now that I’m out of school, I’ve been trying to keep him busy.  Sometimes I feel like his heart might give out on him.  He’s really been grieving.”  She glanced over toward Beth.  “He doesn’t like Beth to see that.  He tries to be strong when she’s around.”

“You’ve all been through a lot,” Carol murmured, drawing her younger cousin into a hug. 

“You guys are doing ok?” Maggie asked, eyeing Carol and then Daryl.

“Yeah.  We’re good.  Things are good,” Carol promised with a beaming smile.

“Busy,” Daryl offered.  “Got a lot of stuff goin’ on.”  Carol shot him a look and then a smile.  She knew he wouldn’t say a word about the pregnancy, but still, she liked having that little secret between the two of them.  “Think I’ll go on in and say ‘hey’ to Hershel.”  He gave Carol’s hand a squeeze and leaned in to kiss her cheek.  She smiled as he left, and she turned to Maggie. 

“You look happy,” Carol offered.  “I mean, you’ve changed a lot since I saw you a few months back.”

“I guess being a college grad just agrees with me,” Maggie joked.  “I got a job in town at _Steve’s Pharmacy_.  I’m a tech.”  She chewed her lip.  “And I met someone.  Ok, I met someone about six months ago, but I haven’t told Daddy.”

“You met someone?!”  Carol grinned with delight and hugged Maggie.  “Honey, I’m happy for you.  So, what’s he like?  Is he good to you?”

“He’s the best,” Maggie murmured.  “His name’s Glenn, and we met at school.  He went for computer programming, so I’m kind of surprised we even managed to cross paths, but we did, and he’s so sweet.  He was born in Michigan, but he’s lived in Atlanta since he was about Beth’s age.”

“So, what does he do?”

“Right now?” Maggie asked.  “He’s working an unpaid internship at some law firm downtown.  He’s helping them set up a new system.  To pay the bills, he’s delivering pizzas.  It’s not much, but he’s hoping his work will impress the company enough that they’ll hire him on as their IT guy.”

“I hope it works out,” Carol offered.  “You look so happy, honey.”

“I am,” Maggie gushed.

“And you’re afraid to tell your dad.”

“You know Daddy.  Wouldn’t you be?” Maggie asked with a smirk.  Carol chuckled a little and nodded. 

“He loves you girls.  He just wants what’s best for you.”

“I get that, but I’m an adult, and if it weren’t for Annette passing away, I probably would have my own place.  I just feel like I can’t leave him right now. And Beth’s been acting out, sneaking out at night doing God knows what with that boy.”  She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.  “I heard her cryin’ the other night, prayin’ to God to take the pain away.  I’m scared, Carol.  I know what it’s like to lose a mother, but I was so young when it happened.  Beth’s just…she’s not handling it.  She’s keeping busy, and she’s just acting out, but she’s not dealing with Annette’s dyin’ at all.”

“Just give her some time.  She’s growing up.  It’s not easy being the baby of the family, especially when your daddy is overprotective like he is.” 

The front screen door swung open, and Daryl came out on the porch.  Carol and Maggie both turned to look at him, and he motioned for Carol.

“Everything ok?” she asked, moving toward the house.

“Think he’s got a fever,” Daryl said quietly, glancing at Maggie to see the worry in her eyes. 

“I’ll check on him,” Carol offered.

“He wasn’t feverish this morning,” Maggie insisted.  “He just felt a little under the weather.  He went to lay down for a bit.”  Carol nodded, and she gave Maggie’s shoulder a squeeze.

“I’ll see how he’s doing.  Why don’t you go keep Beth and Sophia company?”

“I wanna make sure he’s ok.”

“I’ll do that,” Carol promised.  “Go on.” She nodded toward the barn.  Despite being twenty-two, Maggie was still Hershel’s child, and in that moment, Carol still saw that little girl with two missing front teeth and pigtails.  Maggie sighed, shoulders slumping, and she trudged off toward the barn.

“You think he’s gettin’ what’s goin’ around?”

“I hope not.  I hear it’s pretty nasty.”

They headed into the house and up the stairs to the master bedroom.  Carol could hear him coughing as soon as they stepped foot off the landing.  She reached for the door knob, but Daryl reached out to stop her.  She looked up to meet his gaze, knowing what he was thinking before he even said it.

“It’s ok,” she promised.

“It might be,” he said quietly. 

“Daryl,” she whispered, reaching out to stroke his cheek, “we both worried about what could happen when I was pregnant with Sophia.  I’m a doctor, and I take care of sick children almost every day.  It’s a risk that I had to accept a long time ago.  I’ll be careful.  I promise.”  She leaned in and  gave him a soft kiss on the lips.  “Trust me.  I won’t take any unnecessary risks.”  Daryl nodded then, accepting that that was as good as she could give, because she was a doctor, after all, and Hershel had been like a father to her since her own parents had passed away.

Carol gently tapped on the door, and she heard Hershel cough again.

“Uncle Hershel?  It’s Carol.  May I come in?”

“I’m fine, Carol.  Don’t worry about me.  Just a little bug.  Sorry to bring you folks all the way out here.  But I’m sure Maggie and Beth will make something nice for supper.”

“Well, I’m not worried about food right now.  I’m worried about you.  I’m coming in.”  She pushed the door open to find Hershel sprawled out on the bed, the top three buttons on his undershirt unbuttoned.  His face was red, and sweat seemed to be pouring off of him.  Carol flinched at the sight.  Hershel had been a strong, healthy man ever since she could remember.  She remembered him hoisting her up on his shoulders when she was a little girl, carrying her around.  He’d always been her favorite uncle.  He looked thinner now, sickly. 

“I’m alright,” he assured her, holding a hand up before putting it over his mouth to cough. 

“Let me be the judge of that,” Carol insisted.  She and Daryl both stepped into the room, and as soon as she was close to Hershel’s bedside, she could see the rash spreading down his neck and chest.  There were spots on his hands and face as well.  “Hershel, how long have you been feeling bad?”

“Started feeling weak last evening after supper.  I was fine this mornin’, and then…”  He started to sit up.

“No, no, lay back down.”  She glanced at Daryl and kept her voice even and calm.  “I’m going to step out with Daryl for a minute.  Let me get you some cool water, ok?” Hershel coughed again and nodded, leaning his head back against the pillow. 

Carol glanced at Daryl and motioned for him to follow her into the hall.  Once out of earshot, Carol looked him right in the eye and kept her voice even and calm.

“I need you to call 911.  Tell them to get here as soon as possible.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.  He has a lot of symptoms that could mean a lot of different things, but I’ve never seen it like this before.  Not this fast.  Whatever it is, it’s probably highly contagious, so I don’t want Sophia in the house.”

“Should you be…”

“Whatever this is, it’s probably airborne.   We’ve both been exposed.  Maggie and Beth will have been exposed.  Sophia may have already been exposed by being with them.  I want to get her in the car and get her home, Daryl.  Can you take her?  I need to go with him to the hospital.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be ok.  Please, take her home?  I’ll call you as soon as I know anything.”  She could see the fear in Daryl’s eyes as he gave her a tentative nod.  He turned toward the stairs, and Carol reached out to grab his hand. “If she starts to feel sick, or if you do, just come to the hospital.  Call me, but get to the hospital first.  I don’t want to take any chances.”

“Alright.  I will.  Promise.”

“Thank you,” Carol whispered, leaning in and kissing him softly.  “Go on.”  Daryl nodded and grabbed for his phone, quickly dialing 911 as he headed down the stairs. 

Carol stepped into the bathroom and grabbed a small glass off of the sink.  She filled it with cool water and brought it back to Hershel.  She sat on the edge of the bed, hand steady as she lifted the glass to his lips.  He was so weak, he could barely lift his head, but he drank almost every drop down.

“Just rest, Uncle Hershel.  You’re gonna be ok.”

*~*~*~*~*

“Daddy!” Beth cried frantically, as Maggie blocked her from going in the house.

“You don’t wanna see him like that, Beth!” Maggie insisted.  The second Daryl had come out for Sophia with his phone at his ear, the girls had coming running from the horse barn to see what was going on.  All Daryl had said was that Hershel was sick, that Carol was tending to him and that they were calling for help.  He hadn’t wanted to panic the girls, but he saw no way of calmly taking Sophia and leaving with Carol still in the house.

Carol came down the stairs, one hand tightly gripping the banister every step of the way.

“Any sirens yet?” Carol asked, stepping out onto the porch.  All they could hear was the breeze rustling the corn fields. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Beth choked out.  “He’s gonna be ok, right?  He’s gotta be ok!”

“He has a fever and a rash and some spots on his skin.  It may not be anything serious, but it could be, so they’re going to take him to the hospital to make sure.”

“This ain’t what’s got the kids at school out sick is it?” Beth asked, eyes widening.  “One of the boys in my school _died_ yesterday.”  Carol felt the cold flood through her veins, but she remained calm, not wanting Beth to see the fear in her eyes. 

“I’m sure it’s not that,” Carol offered, voice soft as she reached out to pull Beth into a hug.  “Don’t think like that, ok?”

“He can’t die.  I can’t lose him, too.  I can’t!”  Beth broke down sobbing, and Carol held the girl close, glancing at Maggie who seemed frozen in place, eyes filled with tears as she stared up at the old, white farm house.

“Maggie,” Carol murmured.  “Maggie!”  Maggie flinched and swallowed back her fear.  “I need you to go down to the end of the drive and wait for the ambulance.  It’s a long driveway, so they need to know they have the right place, ok?”  Maggie nodded, but she hesitated to move.  “Maggie, go!”  Maggie jumped then, but she started running toward the barn.  She came out riding one of the horses, dusting flying up at his galloped down the long lane that emptied out on an old dirt road. 

Carol helped Beth up the steps onto the porch, and they settled down together on the old, creaky porch swing. 

Beth leaned her head on Carol’s shoulder, and Carol gently stroked her shoulder.  They sat that way for a few minutes, and the cool breeze dried Beth’s tears.  Carol couldn’t help but think back to when she lost her mother and then her father, and thought she hadn’t been as young as Beth was now, she still remembered the pain.  She could still feel it, and sometimes it was too much if she let herself linger on the past for too long. 

“Whatever happens,” Carol whispered, “you’re going to be ok.”

“I’m scared,” Beth sniffled.

“I know, sweetheart.  But everything’s going to be ok.” 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_“Daryl!  The girls are in the next room,” Carol squealed, as he kissed that sensitive spot behind her ear and slid his hand between her legs._

_“They’re fast asleep,” he promised.  “C’mon…”_

_“Oh, are you begging now?” Carol laughed._

_“Promise,” he urged.  “Rocked Beth to sleep, and Maggie was out before her bedtime story was over.”_

_“But they’re light sleepers.”_

_“How do you know?  This is the first time we’ve had ‘em both at the same time since Beth was born.”_

_“Daryl, I don’t know,” Carol murmured, biting her lip as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back, moaning as his fingers skimmed along the outside of her panties._

_“We’ll be real quiet,” he promised.  They hadn’t been married more than a month, and despite the fact that they had been intimate before marriage, they were still pretty much all over one another every chance they got.  They both made each other feel like they were twenty again, despite the exhaustion each morning. Sleep seemed to be falling by the wayside.  Their busy work schedules left little time for much of any time together, but they always made certain they had time for this when they came home to each other._

_Carol was suddenly wondering exactly why she’d agreed to babysit her seven and one year old cousins, when she’d put in a 90 hour work week and wanted nothing more than to just be alone with her new husband.  Still, she loved having the girls, and it was good practice for whoever might come along in the future.  She had always dreamed of having a little girl of her very own._

_“You’re insatiable,” Carol chuckled, as Daryl’s hand slipped into her underwear.  “You—oh!”  She gasped as he nipped at her neck and stroked her slowly.  She spread her legs for him, gripping the sheets as he teased her so sensually._

_“Who jumped who at four o’clock this mornin’?” Daryl growled against her ear.  She giggled then, but he quieted her with a kiss, and then he was leaning her back, crawling over her. Her hands roamed up his bare chest, and she wrapped her arms around his neck._

_“C’mere,” she whispered.  “We have to be quiet.”_

_“That a challenge?” he snorted, gripping her panties and sliding them down her legs._

_“Quick, too.  Think you can manage that one, stud?”_

_“You’re on,” he growled, attacking her throat with kisses.  She muffled a laugh by biting her lip, but that laughter soon faded away when grabbed her by the hips, wrapped her legs around his waist and buried himself fully inside of her._

_Her fingertips gripped his shoulders, nails digging in as he moved, kissing her hungrily, panting against her lips, their bodies slipping against one another, her hands tangling in his hair, his moving over her breasts and down between her legs, teasing her most sensitive flesh as he fucked her._

_She cried out her orgasm against his lips, walls clenching around him and bringing him over moments later.  When it was over, he collapsed against her, burying his face against her neck, kissing her there lazily as her hand trailed sleepy circles down his back._

_“Can’t get enough of you,” he murmured, slipping out of her, rolling to his back only for her to curl up against his side, one hand on his chest, her head on his shoulder._

_“I don’t think that’s such a bad thing,” she whispered.  “And for what it’s worth, I’m ok with it.”  Daryl snorted then, and they were both reduced to laughter, happy and content with one another, both hopeful that they would only crave one another more with each passing year._

*~*~*~*~*

“Daddy, is mom ok?” Sophia asked, pushing a spoonful of oatmeal around her bowl.  Daryl took a sip of coffee and cleared his throat.

“She’s just tired, kiddo.  Eat your breakfast.”  Sophia sighed and took a less than enthusiastic bite. 

“Why wouldn’t Maggie and Beth come stay with us?” she asked, staring up at her dad with those big, bright eyes that generally could get her out of trouble no matter what she did. 

“We’re gonna head over there this afternoon.”

“You’re not working today?”

“Not today.”

“What about school?”

“They closed school again,” Daryl replied quietly, pushing his own oatmeal around his breakfast bowl. 

“Maybe we should check on mom,” Sophia urged, looking toward the stairs in the living room.  Daryl put his spoon down and took another swig of coffee.

“You finish your breakfast.  I’ll check on mom, ok?”  He got up to scrape his bowl, put it in the sink and planted a kiss on top of his daughter’s head.  He fixed up a tray with milk, fresh fruit and oatmeal for Carol and he started up the stairs with it.

She was sitting up in bed with a box of tissues in her lap and the remote control in her hand.  Her eyes were watery, and her nose was red, and as Daryl walked into the room, her eyes lit up, but only for a moment.

“How you feelin’?”

“Sixty deaths, Daryl.  _Sixty_ people have died from this thing since yesterday.”  She shook her head and blew her nose again.

“You gotta turn that off,” Daryl urged, taking the remote from Carol and turning off the TV.  “I called the station.  I ain’t workin’ today.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to,” Daryl insisted, placing the tray down on the bedside table. 

“Breakfast in bed?” Carol asked, sniffling and grabbing for an apple slice.  “That’s sweet.”

“Can’t promise the oatmeal’s very good.  Sophia didn’t seem too excited about it.”  His attempt at humor didn’t go unnoticed by Carol, but she could barely muster a smile. 

Daryl sat down on the bed and pulled his arm around his wife.  She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he kissed the side of her head.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured.  “I know how much you loved him.”

“It happened so fast,” she whispered.  “And all I can think about is what if it happens to you or to Sophia.”

“It won’t.  We’re fine.  We’re gonna be fine.”

“You don’t know that.  We don’t know the timeline on this thing.  We could all be sick right now and not even know it.  Nobody knows!  Denise called me this morning, Daryl.  Three of lab techs at the hospital died yesterday.  Nobody knows what’s causing it.  Nobody knows how to stop it.  Nobody knows how to _prevent_ it.”  She wiped at her eyes.  “Now they’re reporting cases overseas.  This isn’t just here, Daryl.”  Daryl pulled Carol’s legs over his own, gathering her up into his lap. 

“Hey,” he murmured, “I’m gonna take Soph over to the farm today.  Want you to stay here.  I’ll bring the girls home, and we’ll figure something out.  Gotta start makin’ arrangements.” 

“I should be there.  He was my uncle.”

“You gotta rest.”

“I’m ok,” she promised.

“You might be, but I wanna do this for you.”  He kissed her softly.

“I need to go,” Carol urged.  “We need to take Hershel’s truck back, and…”  She sighed and shook her head.  “It doesn’t seem real.  I mean, he was healthy.  So healthy.  I hate that the last time we saw him, he was burying Annette.”  She swallowed the lump in her throat.  “I should go to work.”

“What?”

“The kids need me, and…”

“You do enough to help them every day.  You need to do somethin’ to help yourself.”

“I need to keep busy.  I can’t sit here and think about…”  She started to get up, but Daryl tugged her back down. 

“Damn it.  Stop!  You ain’t got just you to worry about here.  I gotta worry ‘bout you _and_ the baby if you ain’t gonna.”  Carol paused then, and then she began to cry again.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out, wrapping her arms around his neck.  “I’m sorry.”

“Nah, baby, I’m sorry.  Didn’t mean to… _hell,_ I don’t even know what to think.”

“We should take Sophia somewhere,” she sniffled.  “Take the girls, take Sophia, and just get away.”  Daryl kissed her again.

“We will.  When all this settles down, we’ll take the girls and we’ll just go somewhere and get away from a week or two.  Maybe down by the ocean.  Sophia hasn’t been since she was a baby, and I know she’d love it.”  Carol smiled a little and nodded. 

“Yeah.  That sounds good.” 

“Alright.  You rest.  I’m gonna take Soph, and…”

“No, I need to go, Daryl.  Please.  I just need to get out of the house.” 

“Alright.”  His voice was low, wary.  But he knew his wife well enough that if she put her mind to something, she was going to do it, and she certainly wasn’t going to sit around while he went to take care of the girls and check on them.  She couldn’t sit around all day worrying about what might happen.  She had to get out and do something, or else she was going to worry herself sick.  “I’m gonna start you a bath.  That ok with you?”

“ _That_ , you can do,” she replied with a little smile.  “Thank you.”  Daryl leaned down and gave her a soft kiss, and then they both got up.  She started gathering her clothes for the day, while Daryl slipped into the en suite bathroom and started a warm bath.

He left her alone and headed downstairs to clean up the breakfast dishes, and by the time they were heading toward the farm—Daryl driving Sophia and Carol driving Hershel’s old truck she’d followed the ambulance to the hospital in—Daryl’s cell phone was going off like crazy.

“Daddy, you should answer that.”

“It can wait,” he urged, glancing down at the phone to see a text from the station.  They had nine officers out sick and needed him in if he was well enough.  He put his phone down and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, Soph?”

“Are we gonna get sick like Uncle Hershel?”

“No.  I ain’t gonna let nothin’ happen to you or your mama, you understand?”  He glanced in the rear view mirror.  “We’ll be ok.”

“You promise?”  He felt his heart sink in his chest.  “I promise.”  He knew he very well might not be able to keep that promise, but he was going to do everything he could to try. 

*~*~*~*

When they arrived at the farm, Carol pulled Hershel’s truck into its usual parking spot near a big, willow tree. 

“Stay in the car, Soph,” Daryl instructed getting out and grabbing his phone.  He had six more messages since he last checked. 

“What’s wrong?” Carol asked, moving toward her husband.

“They need me at work.  Lots of guys out sick.  I ain’t goin’.”

“Daryl…”

“This is more important,” he insisted.  “You and Soph…I ain’t leavin’ you.”

“Daryl, I love that all you want to do is be here for us.  But…”  His phone buzzed again. 

“Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Somethin’ is goin’ on downtown.  Some kind of riot.”

“What?  Daryl, this is…this is crazy.”

“Come on.  Let’s get the girls and take ‘em back home.”  This time, his phone started ringing. He thought about ignoring it for a moment, but when Carol brought her hand to his shoulder and gave him a little nod, he gave in and brought the phone to his ear.  “Yeah?”

“Daryl?  It’s Ty.”  Tyreese was Daryl’s old partner on the force. 

“What’s goin’ on down there?” Daryl asked, stepping away for a moment, feeling Carol’s gaze following him as he paced.

“We got people looting downtown, people outside the CDC demanding answers.  Hell, it’s bad down here.  They broke out the tear gas, and, damn it, there are kids down here.  Everybody’s pushing and shoving.  It’s crazy!  They need you, man.  They’re sending in reinforcements, but I guess this shit’s happening other places, too.”

“Look, I can’t, man.  My family lost somebody, and…”

“Everybody is losin’ somebody.  I don’t mean to sound like who you lost don’t matter, but folks are dyin’ left and right, and folks are getting out of control.  My sister…”  His voice broke.

“What about Sasha?”

“Man, she died last night.  She was fine when I saw her two days ago.  Her husband Abe called me in the dead of night, tells me to get to the hospital.  She’s gone.  She was pregnant, man.”

“Ty, I’m sorry.  I’m…I don’t know what to say.”  He heard three loud pops in the background.  “Ty!”

“Shit.  I gotta go, man.  Might be best you just stay away.  This is out of control.” The line went dead, and Daryl stood there with his phone in his hand.

“What happened?” Carol asked, stepping toward him, hand reaching out for his.

“You remember Tyreese?”

“Of course.  Is he…”

“His sister died last night.”

“Oh, God.  That’s awful,” she sniffled.  “This is like a nightmare.”  She shook her head, and Daryl pulled her in close. 

“Listen,” he murmured.  “Somethin’ bad is goin’ on in Atlanta.  They got riots outside the CDC and people lootin’.”

“You need to go,” Carol murmured.  “I know.”  She kissed him softly. 

“I don’t wanna leave you.”

“Just stay safe,” Carol whispered.  “Come back home to me.”

“Nine lives, remember?”  Carol smiled then, recalling that night she’d first met him in the ER, when she’d told him not to take any more chances, because she wasn’t stitching him up again.  He’d, in his own pain-killer fueled flirting, promised that he had nine lives and he’d only just used one of them. She’d never let him live that one down.  Now it had become something special to both of them.  She worried about him constantly when he was working, but she knew he was good at what he did, and he always came back home to her at night.  Only now, as she looked at him standing there in front of her, she had a sinking feeling that maybe this was it.  Maybe this was that last time she’d see him leaving for work.  Maybe _this_ was the day he didn’t come back home to her at the end of the night. 

“Hey,” she called out to him, as he started for the car.  He turned, and she came to him, pulling him close and kissing him softly. “I love you.”

“Love you more,” he murmured, gently running his fingers through her soft, grey hair.  “Come on.  Let’s get the girls’ packed up.  I’ll ride home with you and take the bike downtown.”

“You sure?” she asked softly.  He nodded. 

“Don’t matter what the hell’s goin’ on.  You mean more to me than anything else, and I ain’t leavin’ you out here to deal with this on your own.”  He took her hand and gave it a squeeze.  “And tonight, I’m comin’ home to you, so don’t worry for a second that I ain’t.”

“I won’t.”

“Liar,” he teased, getting a little smile out of her.

“You know me,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I do.”  He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss there, right above her knuckles.  “C’mon.  Let’s go.”


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_“You’re gorgeous, Dr. Carol.”_

_“You’re high,” Carol snorted, dabbing a gauze pad over the gash behind Daryl’s shoulder._

_“Your eyes are so blue,” he mused._

_“You’re not even looking at my eyes.  You’re looking at the floor.”  She bit her lip to keep from laughing.  She knew it wasn’t professional, but here was this shaggy-haired young cop with what was probably the cutest ass she’d ever seen, and he was hitting on her. She chalked it up to him being high on the painkillers they’d given him about an hour ago.  But it was sweet, all the same._

_“I saw them, though.  They’re like oceans.  And your hair…”_

_“Okay, Mr. Dixon,” she muttered.  “This might sting a little.”  She began to stitch him up._

_“You like coffee?”_

_“I love coffee.”_

_“You want to get a cup with me sometime?”_

_“Is this you asking or the drugs?”_

_“Me.  I think.  I mean, I know.”_

_“I don’t date patients, Mr. Dixon.  I’m sorry.”_

_“Well, when I get outta here, I won’t be a patient no more.  Then will you date me?”  Carol couldn’t help but laugh at that.  “See?  I’m funny.  I can be funny.  You like funny?  I got jokes.  I mean, they ain’t great, but if you like ‘em, I’ll tell ‘em.”_

_“Just try to relax,” she murmured.  He turned his head in an attempt to get a look at her, and he winced in pain._

_“So beautiful it hurts.”_

_‘Uh-huh,” she sighed._

_“You have soft hands.  Ow!  Fuck.”  Daryl groaned and grimaced as she continued to stitch him._

_“Do you need something else for the pain?”_

_“Nah, I can take it.”_

_“How’d you get yourself into this anyway?” Carol asked.  “I mean…were you chasing the guy?”_

_“Took off after him, and he hid.  Jumped me from behind.”_

_“Aren’t you guys supposed to wait for backup?”_

_“I had him,” Daryl grumbled._

_“Well, he got you.  You’re lucky it was just a graze,” Carol pointed out.  “It could have been much worse.  I’ve seen much worse.  You only get one life.  You should be more careful with it.”_

_“Nah, I’ll be alright.  I been through enough to know ‘bout close calls and all that.  Might as well have nine lives.”_

_“Like a cat?” she asked with a chuckle._

_“You married?”_

_“You don’t give up do you?” Carol asked with a laugh._

_“C’mon.  You don’t date cops?”_

_“I’m just not dating,” she replied._

_“Oh.  You married?”_

_“No,” she laughed.  “Hardly.  I’m just single and busy.”_

_“So, you ain’t datin’…at all?”_

_“Not at the moment.”_

_“But a cup of coffee wouldn’t hurt ya, would it?”  A nurse stepped into the room and eyed Carol._

_“Everything ok in here?”_

_“Just fine,” Carol promised, giving her a knowing look.  The nurse chuckled and gave a little wave before leaving._

_“So, what kinda coffee do you like, Doctor Carol?”_

_*~*~*~*~*_

“I want to go home,” Beth insisted, walking into the kitchen with her cell phone in one hand and her hair brush in the other.  “Why do we have to stay here.”

“It’s just for now.  Just until after the funeral, and…”

“This isn’t my home.  What about the farm?”

“Otis is looking after it.  Just like he always has,” Maggie offered from where she sat at the kitchen table.  Otis worked the farm to help Hershel out.  Beth’s boyfriend Jimmy often helped out as well, but Hershel preferred him to stay as far away from the farm and his daughter as possible.

“I know this is tough,” Carol said quietly.  “It’s not easy to lose a parent.  It feels impossible to lose _both_ of them.  Especially so soon.  But Daryl and I weren’t going to leave you two out there all alone after everything.  You need family, and we’re it.”

“I don’t want to be here,” Beth sniffled.  “I just…want to go back.”  She sat down in a chair at the table and put her phone down in front of her.  “It’s not fair.” 

“I know, honey,” Carol murmured softly.  She pulled her into a hug, and Beth sighed.  “I wish there was something I could say to make it better, but I know that’s not how it works.” 

“Beth, why don’t we go to the mall?  Do a little shopping?  I got paid a couple days ago, and…”

“I don’t want to do _anything!_ ” Beth snapped.  “I just want to go _home._ ”  She turned on her heels and stormed out of the room and up the stairs.  Sophia came into the kitchen, eyes wide as she glanced over her shoulder to see Beth’s retreat.

“Mom, is she ok?”

“She will be, honey,” Carol assured Sophia, pulling her into a hug.  Carol gently cupped Sophia’s chin and tilted her head back so she could look at her face.  “You feel ok, Sophia?”

“I’m ok, Mom.”  Carol put her hand against Sophia’s forehead.  “I feel fine.  Promise!”  Despite the fact that Sophia said she felt fine, Carol couldn’t help but worry that she might still get sick.  She was worried enough about the little life growing inside of her, and she wasn’t sure what all of this sickness meant for the future of her pregnancy, but she knew the little girl standing right in front of her needed her attention first and foremost, and she was terrified of losing her, of losing Daryl, of losing anybody else that she held dear to her heart.  “Mom?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Do you think even though Uncle Hershel’s gone, I can still go help with the horses?”  Carol smiled sadly and nodded. 

“I think Hershel would like that very much.”  Since Sophia had been old enough to walk, she loved to go out with Uncle Hershel to the barn and feed the horses.  When she got a little older, she would help brush them.  She even got to “help” with the delivery of a foal.  She had only rode the horses a couple of times, but it was always briefly and with Hershel’s direct supervision.  Sophia had begged for proper riding lessons, though it seemed like there had never been any time for it.

“You can come out whenever you want and see the horses,” Maggie assured her, giving Sophia’s shoulder a squeeze.  “I promise.  You can even come stay with me and with Beth whenever you want.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” Maggie offered.  “Daddy made sure the farm would stay in the family, and we aren’t about to let it go.  So everything’s staying.”

“Horses and all?”

“Horses and all,” Maggie chuckled.  Carol’s phone buzzed in her pocket, and she frowned, grabbing for it and seeing who was calling.

“It’s the hospital,” Carol murmured. 

“Go on.  I think I’ll start supper,” Maggie offered.

“Honey, you don’t have to do that.  We can order out, or…”

“It’s ok.  I like cookin’.  Takes my mind off of everything.”

“Can I help?” Sophia offered.

“Of course,” Maggie grinned. “Come on.”  Carol smiled as Sophia eagerly hurried to help Maggie with supper. 

“Hello?” Carol asked into the phone.

“Carol, it’s Denise.”

“Hey, everything ok?”

“No.  Not at all.  We’ve had eight deaths in the past hour.”

“What?”  Carol’s hand flew to her chest.  She heard the other doctor’s voice breaking.  Maggie turned to see the worry in Carol’s eyes. 

 _“What’s wrong?”_ she mouthed.  Carol shook her head.

“They’re getting worse.  Nothing is helping.  We’ve had three doctors taken across town to GMH by ambulance, but they say they’re running out of room over there.  We’re short staffed, and a lot of the kids that aren’t sick with the virus are being transported to Decatur.  I hate to ask.  I know you lost someone, but Carol, we’re in over our heads here.”

“Denise, I…”

 _“They need you?”_ Maggie whispered.  Carol nodded hesitantly, and Maggie waved her hand.  _“Go.  I can take care of things here.”_   Carol shook her head.  _“Go.  They need you.  You should go.  It’s ok.”_ Carol sighed, and Sophia came over to hug her mother around the middle.

“It’s ok, Mom.  I’m ok, but I know a lot of kids aren’t.  Go help them.  I’ll help Maggie here.” 

“Oh, you two,” Carol sighed.  “Denise?  I’ll be there in a half hour, ok?”

“Thank you so much.  Thank you, Carol.”  Carol put her phone away, and she shook her head. 

“I’m sorry.”

“We get it.  Growing up, Daddy got called away at all times of the night to take care of sick farm animals.  You take care of kids.  I mean, they need you.  We’re gonna be ok.”

“You’re leavin’?” Beth asked from the doorway.  Carol turned to see Beth standing there, eyes filled with tears.

“Just for a few hours, honey.  I’m sorry, but they need me.”

“What about us?”

“Beth, that’s not fair,” Maggie scolded.

“You’re just standin’ there actin’ like everything’s ok, but it ain’t!”

“Beth…”  Carol reached out for her, but Beth pulled back. 

“Just take me home,” Beth snapped.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Maggie snapped back.  “Carol didn’t have to come all the way out there and bring us here.  She did it ‘cause she cares.  ‘Cause that’s what Daddy would’ve done for Sophia.  Family takes care of each other.  And Daddy wouldn’t stand for you actin’ like this.” At Maggie’s scolding, Beth turned and took off up the stairs again.  Carol sighed, and she started after her, but she felt a hand curl around hers, and she looked down to see Sophia holding onto her.

“It’s ok, Mom.”

“I love you so much, Sophia Dixon.  Do you know that?”

“I know,” Sophia offered.  “I love you too, Mama.”  She gave her mother a big hug again, and Carol looked to Maggie with a thankful smile. 

“We’ll be ok, right Soph?” Maggie asked.

“Right.”  She moved back across the kitchen to pull the aprons out of the drawers. 

Carol turned and headed up the stairs to grab her comfortable shoes for work, and just as she was starting for the door, Beth stepped into the bedroom.

“Beth?”

“Sorry about before,” Beth sniffled.  “I didn’t mean to yell like that.  What you did for me and Maggie was really nice.”

“It’s ok, honey.  I understand.”  Carol gave her hand a squeeze.  “It’s going to take some time, but it’s gonna be ok.”

“Everybody’s dyin’.  My mama, now my daddy.  What’s gonna happen?”

“We don’t have to think about that right now.”

“We don’t?  Maggie’s gonna get the farm, because she’s old enough, but me?  Where am I gonna go?  Am I going to stay with her?  Or with you?  Or….”  Beth’s breathing grew faster, more erratic, and Carol knew she was starting to panic.

“We don’t have to think about any of that right now,” Carol insisted.  “Whatever happens, you aren’t going to be alone, and I’ll make sure of it.  We’ll all get through this together, ok?”

“Thanks,” Beth sniffled, as Carol gave her another hug before pulling back.

“That’s what family’s for.”

*~*~*~*

“Shit’s crazy here.”  Daryl’s voice came over the car speaker as Carol drove with her cell phone on the passenger’s seat. 

“You’re being careful?”

“Always,” he insisted.  “You almost to the hospital?”

“Not hardly.  There’s a lot of traffic.   I think people are packing up and leaving.”

“Where the hell they think they’re goin’?  From the talk on the news, this shit’s everywhere.”

“Are you feeling ok?” Carol worried.

“Just fine.  Don’t you worry about me.  How are the girls?”

“Maggie’s holding up ok.  She’s keeping busy.  Beth’s not handling it well.  I hated to leave them, Daryl.  I’m going for a few hours, tops.  I’m not staying all night.  I can’t.  I have people that need me back home just as much as they need me there.  When are you coming home?”

“Probably ain’t gonna be for a few hours.  Talk is that another group of folks are marchin’ down from the city building.”

“God.  It’s unreal, Daryl.  Please promise me you’ll be home tonight.”

“I’ll be home,” he promised.  “You be careful, you hear me?”

“I will.  I love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.  I’ll see you tonight.  Hell, I bet I beat you home, have a whole romantic dinner in bed for ya.”

“Oh, and a foot rub?”

“Think I can throw one of them in there.”

“I knew I married you for a reason.  Stay safe.”

“You too,” he murmured, before the car grew quiet and the call ended.  Carol sighed, gripping the steering wheel and saying a silent prayer that by morning, she’d be safely wrapped in her husband’s loving arms from the comfort of her own home.  But the unsettling feeling that had started coiling in her gut told her that this crisis was far from over.  What was the saying?  It was going to get worse before it got better?  But what if it never got better?  The cold chill of fear settled over her briefly before she shook it off and focused on getting to work, on helping people, on getting home to the people she loved the most.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_“Mornin’ beautiful,” Daryl murmured sleepily, rolling onto his back, his nude form barely covered by the thin sheet draped across his waist.  He blinked a few times, realizing it was still quite dim in the room.  “Time is it?”_

_“We still have a couple of hours,” she whispered.  “Go back to sleep.”  She leaned over to give him a soft kiss, and he reached up and ran his fingers through her soft, dark auburn curls._

_“You ok?” he asked, propping himself up on his elbow, running his free hand down her back.  She smiled softly and nodded._

_“I’m good,” she whispered.  “You should sleep.  You had a long night.”`_

_“Hmm,” he murmured, yawning and leaning his head back against the pillow.  She bit her lip then, feeling her heart beating a million miles a minute inside of her chest._

_“Daryl?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“I love you,” she whispered._

_“Love you too, babe,” he murmured, sliding his hand over hers on the bed._

_“Daryl?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“Do you remember where you put that box of things Hershel gave us?”_

_“What things?” he murmured, eyes still shut as his breathing slowed and he lingered somewhere near light sleep._

_“The things he sent us after Beth started pre-school?  You know, things we might need someday.”_

_“You mean the baby clothes?”_

_“Yeah.”_

_“Somewhere in the garage, I think.”_

_“Okay, I’ll look after breakfast,” Carol offered softly, leaning over and kissing his cheek.  She lay back down on her side, folding her hands over her stomach.  And she waited.  Moments passed.  And then the bed shifted.  Daryl sat up, wide awake, reaching to turn the light on so he could see her better._

_“Baby clothes?” he asked, staring down at her, eyes wide with disbelief.  She bit her lip, barely containing her excitement, and she nodded.  “You’re tellin’ me you’re…we’re havin’ a baby?”_

_“I just took a test.  It’s on the bathroom sink if you want to see for yourself.”_

_“You…” He glanced toward the bathroom and then back down at her.  “You’re sure?”_

_“I took another test yesterday, but I thought maybe it was a fluke.  I didn’t want to say anything until…”  Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Daryl leaned down, kissing her, making her giggle at his excitement.  When he pulled back, he scrambled out of bed, rushed into the bathroom and came back out holding the little stick on a piece of tissue paper.  Two pink lines.  “This means…”_

_“Pregnant.”_

_“Holy shit,” Daryl panted.  “You’re really sure?”  After five years of marriage and no luck in conceiving, they’d started to wonder if maybe it wasn’t going to happen for them.  They’d tried everything from ovulation kits and even different sex positions, and not ever seemed to happen for them.  But Dr. Prescott had assured them both that neither of them were infertile, and they simply had to be patient.  With their hectic work schedules, patience really hadn’t had a place in their lives._

_“I haven’t been to the doctor yet, but I’ve been feeling funny.  Kind of tired.  A little nauseated.  I’m sure it’s early, but I’ll make an appointment tomorrow to confirm.”_

_“You’re really…”_

_“We’re having a baby!” Carol exclaimed, as Daryl pulled her up out of bed and wrapped her in a hug.  He let go of her quickly though._

_“Am I holdin’ you too tight?”_

_“Not at all,” she laughed.  “Come here.”  She pulled her arms around his neck, brought him in close and kissed him, sighing as he pulled his arms snugly around her middle and held her close.  “Love you so much.”_

_“Love you more,” he murmured, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her back to bed for an early morning celebration._

*~*~*~*

Working at the children’s hospital had always been a very rewarding experience for Carol.  Even in her first years there, she’d found joy in helping hundreds of kids each year.  Of course, for every successful case, there were more than a few unsuccessful ones, but she tried not to dwell on those, because finding joy in the good outcomes was what kept her going. 

But tonight was different.  Tonight, the hopeful cases were being taken off to other hospitals, while the worst case scenarios stayed behind.  Three hours into her shift had made Carol witness to over a dozen deaths, and the others were only getting worse.

No amount of antibiotics or other medicines were working.  The fever spiked no matter what.  The rash spread.  And she’d witnessed more than a couple of these kids in their final moments, body temperatures so hot that they were seeing things that weren’t there, talking about the white light and watching the fear in their faces melt into something else, something of understanding before they took their last breaths. 

Some of them were younger than Sophia.

She had spoken to a handful of heartbroken parents, but the saddest thing of all was that some of these kids didn’t _have_ parents anymore.  Some of these kids had lost their parents days, even hours before.  Whatever this thing was, it worked fast and took no prisoners. 

The children sent off to other hospitals were charted as “immune” to the virus.  Many of them had been around the sickness, even sharing rooms with those who died, yet they didn’t spike fevers or show any of the symptoms. 

There were still no answers.  The CDC had been eerily quiet, speaking very little to the media about what was happening.  Carol was beginning to think the reason they’d so little was because they knew so little.  She was a doctor.  She liked clear answers, finding answers, solving medical mysteries.  But the onset of this thing happened so quickly that by the time the symptoms were showing, they were so far gone that nothing would help. 

“You ok?”  Carol looked up from where she was slumped over on the locker room bench.  Dr. Cloyd came walking in, her long, chestnut hair pulled into a braid behind her head.  Sweat beaded at her brow.

“I’m ok,” Carol murmured softly.  “Lost the kid in 632.”

“Oh God.  Andy?”

“Yeah,” Carol offered, sniffling and wiping at her nose.  “I don’t understand it.”

“None of us do,” Denise offered, sitting down next to her.  Carol slumped forward slightly, holding her head in her hands.  “You look pale.  Please tell me you’re not getting this thing.”

“It’s not that.  I’m not sick.” She gave Denise a weak smile.  “I’m just pregnant.”

“Oh God,” Denise said softly, her face falling.  “I wish I’d have known that.  I wouldn’t have called you back into this mess.”

“I couldn’t _not_ help.  But I’m not sure I’m doing any good here at all.  Nothing’s working.  Everyone who’s come down with the symptoms has…”  She shook her head and wiped at her eyes.  “And then I wonder, why are some people immune?  Even some of our sicker patients are immune to it.  Why aren’t you sick?  Why aren’t I?  I feel like a terrible person for sitting here and being thankful that my husband and daughter aren’t sick while all of these children are dying around us.  And the other hospitals?  They’re calling us to see if we have beds available.  Denise, this feels like…”

“The end?” Denise asked.  “It kind of does to me, anyway.”  It was true.  That was what it felt like.  The end.  They were running out of supplies, and at this point, it felt like the medicines and supplies were being wasted.  They did no good, and new patients were coming in in droves.  The first few floors of the hospital had begun admitting patients of all ages, because the county hospitals were filling up with the sick.  Whole families were dying. 

“You should go home,” Denise offered.  “Be with your family.  Doesn’t seem like we’re doing much good here, anyway.”  Carol shook her head and let out a shaky breath.

“Daryl’s out there in the middle of all of the rallies.”

“What?” Denise asked, her eyes widening.  “Oh God.  Tell me you’re joking.”

“They needed him.  A lot of the officers are sick, dying.  Daryl went to try to help, but Denise, I’m scared to death.  I’m terrified.  They’re getting violent out there.  We’ve even seen it _here_.  People are desperate and scared, and they’re acting out.”

“He’ll be ok.  You know that, right?  I mean, he’s a cop.  He’s a hunter.  He can take care of himself.”

“I know that.  I know he can.  But out there is like something out of a movie.  Do you know on the way here, I saw a man get shot by the police?”

“Oh my God.”

“I was stuck in a traffic snarl, and this guy just gets out and starts screaming at the cop that pulled him over.  He’s waving his arms around, he pulls out a gun, and they shot him.  I’ve seen people die.  Lots of them.  But I’ve never seen somebody shot right in front of me.  I don’t know…I don’t know if he lived or died, but to see that happen right in front of you…”  She took a shaky breath and ran her fingers through her hair.

“I’m not sure how much more death I can take,” Denise admitted.  “We’ve been through it.  Med school, residency.  We’ve seen it happen every day, but like this?  So much?”

“I guess we just have to keep breathing and keep moving,” Carol offered.  “Keep trying to _do_ something.”

“Hey, guys!”  A young nurse opened the door to the dressing room.  “They’re making a special report.  It’s on like every channel.”  Carol and Denise glanced at one another before getting up and hurrying after the nurse. 

Gurneys lined the hallway, and very sick children lay sleeping and coughing and crying all along the way.  They made their way down to the waiting room, where several concerned parents and hospital staff were gathered in front of the TV on the wall.

_“…devastating virus sweeping across the nation has gone global with 150,000 confirmed deaths so far in Australia, Japan and Russia combined with more fatalities being reported in many countries every hour.  We can confirm now that President Ellis has been hospitalized with the virus.”_

Many gasps rose up from the crowd on the television and in the waiting room, and Carol felt her head get a little swimmy.  She leaned against the wall for support, and she put her hand to her stomach.

_“The staff at the Center for Disease control has worked tirelessly for a cure but has still found nothing to fight the virus.  We are now hearing that new strains of the virus are hitting more heavily populated areas.  No word on where this virus originated.  We urge all medical personnel to exercise extreme caution when treating patients with the virus.  It can be confirmed that the virus is airborne and can be passed from person to person with casual contact.  The CDC has been conducting tests on subjects who have thus far remained immune to the virus, even after contact with an infected party.  Still, with this research, no cure has been found in the blood of the immune.  This very simply but quite tragically may have to run its course before it is eliminated.  We urge people who are experience symptoms to seek medical assistance right away, and we encourage those who have been exposed and remained immune to volunteer their services to local hospitals.”_

“They have no idea how to stop this,” Carol murmured, bringing her hand to her forehead.  “They’re fucking clueless.”  Denise put her hand on Carol’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  “I need to call my family.” 

“Go on,” Denise said softly.  Carol stepped out of the waiting room and into a nearby stair well.  She sat down at the top of the steps and put her head in one hand and dialed home with the other.  After a couple of rings, Beth answered.

“Hi, Carol.”

“Beth, is everything ok at home?” Carol asked softly, keeping her voice soft and even.

“Yeah.  Sophia and Maggie are getting Monopoly set up.  We’re making popcorn and thinking about popping in a movie.  We were gonna order pizza, but not many places seem to be open these days.  Popcorn’s good though.”

“Good.  How are you feeling?”

“A little better,” Beth offered.  “Jimmy called.”

“He did?”

“Yeah.  He was worried.  Maybe he can come over sometime this week for dinner?”

“I think that’d be nice.”

“Maybe Maggie will invite Glenn.  She thinks I don’t know, but I hear her talking to him on the phone all the time.  It’s kind of obvious.”  Carol chuckled at that and sniffled.  “You ok, Carol?”

“I’m ok, honey,” Carol promised.  “Just a little tired.”

“Things are bad at the hospital, aren’t they?”

“It’s not good.  You, uh, you aren’t watching the news, are you?”

“No, why?”

“Whatever you do, don’t let Sophia see the news.  It’s bad.  Just stay inside, ok?”

“Okay.  We’ll keep her mind off of it.  You’ll be home soon?”

“Probably not for a while.  Just sit tight, ok?”

“Ok.  See you later.”

“Bye, honey.”  Carol quickly ended the call and dialed Daryl. 

After several rings, his phone went straight to voicemail, and while that wasn’t unusual when he was working, a sinking feeling hit her like a ton of bricks.  When the recording beeped for her to leave a message, she took a shaky breath. 

“It’s me.  I’m just checking in.  Things are bad, and I’m sure you know that.  Please call me as soon as you get this.  I’m going to try to leave for home in a few hours.  I just need to hear your voice.  I need to know you’re ok.  I love you.” 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_“When you’re big enough, me and mama are gonna take you out campin’.  I’ll even teach ya how to hunt if ya want.  My dad taught me and your uncle Merle, and I can teach you.  And don’t let nobody tell you that just ‘cause you’re a girl, you can’t hunt.  My mama showed my daddy a few things with the rifle.”_

_Carol couldn’t keep a straight face any longer.  She’d been pretending to be asleep for the past five minutes, while Daryl hand talked directly to the swell of her stomach where their unborn daughter was kicking like crazy._

_“You’re awake?” Daryl asked, as Carol started giggling._

_“You’re so cute,” she cooed, as Daryl scooted up the bed to greet her with a kiss._

_“How long you been awake?”_

_“Since you started listing all of the things you were going to teach her.  Not sure my opinion means much here, but I don’t think our daughter’s going to enjoy learning how to gut and clean a fish.”_

_“Ya never know,” he pointed out.  “Just ‘cause you weren’t raised ‘round it don’t mean she can’t be.”_

_“What’s that supposed to mean?” she teased.  “Are you calling me prissy?”_

_“Nah.  Just sayin’ you didn’t get out much ‘til you met me.”_

_“Oh, sure,” Carol snorted._

_“Hey, when was the first time you went campin’?”_

_“Technically when I was fourteen for a slumber party in Rita Nichol’s backyard.”_

_“Don’t count.”_

_“She lived in the country!”  At Daryl’s look, she rolled her eyes.  “Fine.  With you.”_

_“And when was the first time ya went hiking.”_

_“Does walking uphill in San Francisco count?  No?  Fine.  With you.”_

_And when was the first time ya went fishing and baited your own hook?”_

_“Ok, fine.  I never lived until I started dating you.”_

_“Damn straight,” Daryl snorted, as Carol playfully shoved his shoulder.    She winced then, and Daryl sat up in the bed.  “You ok?”_

_“Yeah.  She’s getting stronger every day.”    Daryl placed his hand against her belly, and his face lit up at the light nudging against his palm._

_“She’s movin’ like crazy.”_

_“I think she’s trying to find a comfortable position.  She tosses and turns just like her daddy.”  She winked and kissed him softly._

_“That just means she won’t be a cover hog like her mama.”_

_“I get cold,” Carol protested.   Daryl’s hand moved down her thigh, and he nibbled at her ear._

_“I’ll keep ya warm.”_

_“Mmm, promise?”_

_“Promise,” he murmured, kissing her softly once again._

_*~*~*~*~*_

Daryl took a pull from the half-empty water bottle in his hand, panting and coughing as he swallowed the rest of it down.  Tyreese had drank the first half and passed it on to his old partner.  Daryl was weary.  He figured just about every part of him had a bruise of some kind. He’d been pushed and pulled in every direction and had caught the painful end of a knife that wasn’t meant for him.  He barely remembered the pain searing just above his eye, but in the moment, he’d been protecting a kid that couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen.  The kid had run off, and he and Tyreese had sought out a place to regroup.

He’d tried calling home.  He’d tried calling Carol.  Silence.  Nothing.  No service.  In the chaos, he’d found a few discarded phones on the ground and tried those with the same result.  Nothing. 

He’d found Tyreese in the scuffle, and they’d watched two of their fellow officers rushed out of the crowd on stretchers.  It was a madhouse.  People were angry, people were scared, and Daryl understood that.  But he also knew that the last thing anybody should be doing when the world was going to shit was panicking. 

“You’re bleeding,” Tyreese panted, gesturing toward Daryl’s face, where a cut above his eyebrow was bleeding pretty heavily.

“Yeah.  Bad?”

“It’s superficial.  Don’t think you’ll need stitches.  Good thing your wife’s a doctor, though, right?”

“Right,” Daryl muttered, half coughing, half chuckling.  “You’re bleedin’, too.”

“Yeah,” Tyreese groaned, ripping a piece of his undershirt off and wrapping it around his wounded hand.  “It looks worse than it feels.”

They’d managed to push out of the crowd and duck into a dark alley to get out of the chaos for a moment.  Gunfire could be heard so very close by, and all Daryl wanted to do was get to his wife and make sure she was ok.  Still, they were miles from the hospital.  He’d come out for crowd control, and now all it felt like was a fucking warzone.  Some of the store fronts were now just burned out shells of buildings with broken glass and looted merchandise spilled out onto the sidewalk. 

“You shouldn’t be here,” Tyreese muttered, leaning against the brick wall behind him.  “You’re distracted.”

“Shit, so are you,” Daryl bit out, wiping his hand over his forehead, bringing it back to see the blood covering his palm.  “Neither of us should be out here.  None of these people should be.  It’s just the way it is.”

They could hear voices over intercoms from police cruisers as fresh officers arrived to the scene.

“Looks like our replacements are here,” Daryl snorted dryly. 

“Come on.  Let’s get the hell outta here.  You got ammo?” Tyreese asked.  Daryl nodded.

“Not much, but enough to get through the crowd, I think.  Most folks ain’t crazy enough to try and jump a cop yet.  Ten more minutes, and everybody’s gonna be losin’ their fuckin’ minds.”

“C’mon,” Tyreese urged with a nod.  “Let’s go.” 

They started out through the crowd again, keeping to the outer rim of the sea of people.  He could hear screaming, crying, more gunshots. 

“Hey, no, no, don’t go that way,” Daryl urged, grabbing a young child up in his arms who was crying shaking, snot running down his chin as Daryl carried him away from a tussle between two civilians he had been wandering straight toward.

“I want my mom!” he screamed.  “Mommy!” 

“Hey.  Hey.  Look at me, buddy.  It’s ok.  You’re ok.”   He kept moving.  “Ty!  You back there?!”

“Yeah.  Keep going!”

“What’s your name kid?” Daryl asked, trying to distract him from the violence as an explosion went off somewhere not too far away.  The kid screamed.  “Hey.  Look at me.  What’s your name?”

“S—Sam!” he cried. 

“How old are ya, Sam?”

“Six,” he sniffled.

“Six?  I got a little girl a few years older than you.  You know what she used to do when she was scared?”  The little boy shook his head.

“She used to hide her face on my shoulder and count.”

“How high?” Sam asked. 

“As high as she needed to ‘til she wasn’t scared no more.  You wanna try it?”  Sam sniffled and nodded. 

“Ok,” he cried. 

“Ok, Sam.  You count, ok?  I won’t let nothin’ happen to you.  We’re gonna get you safe, and then we’re gonna find your mom.  Ok?”

“Uh-huh,” Sam sobbed. 

“Ok.  Ready?”  Sam nodded.  “Good.  Ok, let’s go.”  Sam wrapped his arms around Daryl’s neck, buried his face against his shoulder and began to count out muffled numbers, as Daryl pushed through the crowd. 

He raised his gun when a man pointed one straight at him.

“Put it down,” he urged, voice low and even.  “You don’t wanna do this, man.”

“Man, fuck you!” the guy yelled, running off, gun raised, firing it as somebody plowed straight into him.  Daryl flinched but didn’t look back.  He kept running with Sam, until the piercing screams of a woman cut through the crowd.

“My son!  Where’s my son?!  Sam!  Sammy!” 

“Mommy!” Sam screamed, looking up from Daryl’s shoulder just in time to see his mother come running through the crowd.  Sam scrambled out of Daryl’s arms, and he went running to his mother, who picked him up, covering his face with kisses. 

“Get him outta here!” Daryl yelled.  The woman’s eyes were wide, frantic, and she turned back toward the crowd.  And then she was gone with her son in her arms before Daryl could stop her.  Daryl started after them, but he felt Tyreese grab his arm.

“Don’t do that, man.  You can’t.”

“They’re gonna die in there,” Daryl grunted out, shaking Tyreese off.   Tyreese got around him, blocked him, put his hands on his shoulders. 

“You ain’t gonna die for them.  You got a little girl and a wife waitin’ on you, so don’t do nothin’ stupid.”    Daryl stared at Tyreese a moment, hearing the words echoing through his head, seeing Carol’s face, hearing Sophia’s laugh, feeling his lungs burn as his heart pounded and his entire being ached to get out and go to them. 

“Ok,” Daryl panted.  “Ok.”  He scanned the crowed one more time in a last ditch effort to spot the woman and her little boy, but they were gone, and as he turned to start back through the crowd with Tyreese, another gunshot rang out.  Suddenly, everything was spinning, breathing was painful, and all he could taste was blood.  The last thing he saw before everything went dark were Tyreese’s dark brown eyes going wide.  Then he was falling, and all he heard before darkness washed over him was the lullaby of gunfire echoing around him.

*~*~*~*~*~

“Carol.  Carol?”  Carol startled awake from where she’d fallen asleep on the floor of the locker room, back propped up against a locker.  Denise stood over her, eyes heavy from lack of sleep, hair messy from running all around. 

“Oh God,” Carol murmured.  “What time is it?”

“It’s almost two-thirty.  Carol, there’s a man here to see you.”

“What?” Carol asked.

“He said he tried calling your phone but couldn’t get through.  A lot of cell service is going down.  Mine, too.”  Carol pulled herself up to stand, and she rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. 

“What man?” Carol asked.

“He says he knows you.  His name’s Tyreese Williams.”

“Ty?” Carol asked.  “That’s Daryl’s old partner.”

“He needs to see you.  He’s in pretty bad shape.  They stitched him up downstairs and sent him up.”

“What?  I…”

“Carol?”   Tyreese stepped into the locker room with his arm in a sling, the hand of that arm wrapped in a bloody bandage.  He looked exhausted, weary, beaten down.  One eye was swollen slightly, and he had a bandage taped to his right brow. 

“Ty, what happened?” she asked, hand flying to her chest, as he came over and pulled her into a gentle hug.

“It’s good to see you,” he murmured. 

“Tyreese, are you ok?”

“I’m ok.  Just a little banged up.  It’s brutal out there.  This stuff is getting out on the news, and people are scared.  They’re panicking.  It’s not safe out there.  I…I came to get you.”

“Where’s Daryl?”

“Carol…”  Tyreese’s gaze faltered, and his voice broke.  “I’m…”

“No!  Don’t you…don’t…”  She choked on her words, eyes going wide, hand shaking as she grabbed for her cell phone and frantically started tapping at the screen to no avail.  No service.  “Please…”

“Calm down.  Carol, stop!” Tyreese urged, gently grabbing her by the shoulders.  “He’s alive.  He’s alive!”  Carol gasped, and tears flooded her eyes.  “Hey.  Hey.  He’s…he’s alive.”

“Where is he?” she asked again.  “Ty, please…”

“He got shot.  It was bad.  Lost a lot of blood, and he was bleedin’ out, but they got a chopper in and they took him.”

“Where?  Where is he?!”

“I don’t…they sent him to some hospital in King County.”

“King…oh God.  That’s not…that’s not even a trauma center.  Ty, I have to…I need to get there.”

“I know,” Tyreese said with a nod.  He glanced at Denise.

“I’m taking her.  She’s not fit to drive.”

“No, of course.  Of course.  Carol, if you need anything…”

“I’ll be ok,” Carol offered, swallowing back her tears, wiping at her eyes and nodding at Tyreese.  “He’s going to help me get there, right Ty?”

“Of course,” he promised.  “But it’s gonna take us a while.  The main roads are jammed with cars.  If we take the back roads, we’ll get there in a couple of hours.”

“But he could be…”

“You gotta believe he’s gonna be ok.  He wasn’t sick, Carol.  They were pushing and shoving and just right up in our faces.  If we were gonna get sick, we’d be sick by now.  He was fine, and then he was on the ground, and I didn’t even see who did it.”  He shook his head.  “The night’s a blur.  I can’t focus on…”

“Oh God,” Carol gasped, as they walked down the hallway together.  “Oh God.  Tyreese, I heard about Sasha.  I’m so sorry.”

“Thank you,” he murmured.  “I can’t think about that now.  I just can’t.  But what I can do is get you across town to Daryl.”

“He’s gonna be ok.  He is, Ty.  Right?  He’ll be…”

“He was alive when they took him.  He was.  I…I know Daryl.  He’s strong.  He’ll get through this.”

They made their way down the stairs and to the ground floor, and Carol saw Tyreese’s police cruiser parked at the curb. 

“I have to get my car.”

“I’m drivin’ you.  You ain’t in no shape,” Tyreese pointed out.

“And you are?” she asked, gesturing to his injured arm.  “I’ll follow you.  Please.”  He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“No.  I’m following you.  Anything happens, I’ll be there right behind you.  Ok?”  Carol nodded then, and Tyreese pulled her into another hug.  “It’s gonna be ok.  Daryl’s the toughest guy I know.”

“I need to call my daughter.  I can’t…”  She tried her phone again.

“Service is out all over the place.  Everything’s falling apart.”  He saw the fear in her eyes then, and he cleared his throat.  “Just you focus on getting to Daryl.  They’re gonna take care of him.  They will.”  Carol was shaking then, and Tyreese helped her to the cruiser and drove her to her car.  When she got out, she turned and leaned into the window of the passenger’s seat.

“He can’t die, Tyreese.”

“He won’t,” Tyreese insisted.  “Come on.  We’re wasting time.”   He nodded toward Carol’s car, and she grabbed her keys.  “I’m right behind you.  I won’t let you outta my sight.”

“Thank you,” Carol murmured, turning and going to her car.  Her heart felt heavy, and her legs felt shaky, but she knew in her heart he was going to be ok.  He was Daryl.  There was no way in hell he wasn’t coming home to her.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_“You sure gave your mama a tough day, kiddo,” Daryl murmured, sitting in the chair next to Carol’s hospital bed.  She’d been sleeping for the past hour.  Labor had been long and excruciating, and the delivery had been pretty difficult.  After almost forty-eight hours of being awake, she’d crashed into a heavy sleep, leaving Daryl wide-awake with their newborn daughter in his arms._

_Her name was Sophia, and she came out with a healthy set of lungs, almost no hair and her mama’s nose.  She was perfect.  The second the doctor handed her over to him, Daryl had felt this instant love, something he hadn’t experienced in such a way in his entire life._

_He’d been amazed at how one moment Carol had been in such pain, and he’d been helpless in comforting her.  He’d just let her squeeze his hand and bare down, and then suddenly, it was as if a relief had washed over her, and a little laugh fell from her lips the second she kissed Sophia’s forehead and the little one cried._

_Now, he sat in silence, and Sophia’s little fingers poked out from under her swaddling blanket.  Those long, slender fingers with flakes of dry skin.  Even her little toes and feet were peeling, and he realized he’d never paid such close attention to a newborn before.  Even Beth when she was born.  He supposed with Sophia being his own flesh and blood, new life took on a whole new meaning, and he was committing every little detail to memory._

_“I sure love her, you know?  Your mama?  And you were somethin’ we thought we were never gonna get.  We hoped for ya.  We did.  And then one day we just thought maybe you’d never be here.  Maybe that was the way it was s’posed to be.  But the day your mama told me you were on your way was one of the best days of my life.  Guess I wasn’t really sure how I could be happier than I already was with her, but now I know.  We made you, and we love ya so much, Soph.”_

_Sophia sighed softly in her sleep, and Daryl leaned down to kiss her little cheek._

_“She is pretty perfect, isn’t she?” Carol asked sleepily, reaching over to touch Daryl’s shoulder.  Daryl looked up at her, and she smiled._

_“Thought you were sleepin’.”_

_“I was,” she murmured._

_“How ya feelin’?”_

_“Sore.  Very sore,” she chuckled.  “I don’t think I’ll be doing that again for a long while.”  She shifted in her hospital bed._

_“Whaddya need?  I can get it.”_

_“I’m just trying to get comfortable,” she insisted, before sucking in a sharp breath and settling back against her pillow._

_“Wish there was somethin’ I could do for ya.”_

_“I’ll be ok,” she promised.  “She was worth it.  Here.  Let me hold my kid.”  Daryl grinned and stood, gently passing the baby over to his wife._

_“Looks just like ya.”_

_“Yeah?  I don’t know.  I think she’s got your eyes.  Your goofy ears, too,” she teased._

_“Hey, I thought you liked my ears.”_

_“I do,” she laughed.  Carol lay the baby in her lap and gently unwrapped her from the blanket.  Her perfect little hands and feet were still red, and she was wearing a little white shirt with her diaper.  Carol gently touched the little hospital band around her ankle and sighed softly.  “It’s hard to believe she’s here.  She’s real.”_

_“You happy?”_

_“So happy,” she murmured.  “And terrified.”_

_“Yeah, I’m scared shitless.  These things don’t come with instructions.”_

_“Nope,” she laughed.  “But at least we’re not completely clueless.  We’ve had practice with Beth and Maggie.  We’ll be alright.”_

_“Think she’s gettin’ spoiled, us holdin’ her all the time?”_

_“Probably,” Carol murmured.  “We should let her rest a while.”  She wrapped Sophia back up and snuggled her close, inhaling that sweet, new baby smell.  Sophia had actually enjoyed her first bath, and Carol had gotten some pretty cute pictures of her relaxing in the warm, soapy water as the nurse helped Daryl wash her._

_“Okay.  You and mama both need rest,” Daryl murmured, picking up Sophia and holding her close as he carried her over to the little nursery bed.  Sophia squirmed a little as he lay her down, but she soon settled and continued sleeping.  Daryl moved to sit on the edge of Carol’s bed, and she smiled sleepily at him and relaxed against her pillow.  “Never seen nothin’ like that before.”_

_“I’m proud of you.  I’ve seen plenty of dads pass out in the delivery room.  You did a good job today.”  Daryl snorted at that, and Carol laughed.  “We’re a pretty good team, huh, dad?”_

_“Dad.  Damn, that’s gonna take some gettin’ used to.”  Carol grinned, and Daryl leaned down to kiss her again._

*~*~*~*~*

The first thing he heard was a shrill, slow beeping.  The second thing he heard was a voice on an intercom.  Then it was the sound of rubber soles on tile.  Then he could hear screaming.  Crying.  Somewhere, someplace, he could hear gunfire again.  The bed shook.

The bright light slowly pierced through his heavy eyelids, and he took a big, shaky, aching breath, groaning as the horrible pain flooded through his chest and back.

“He’s waking up,” he heard a voice say.  “Daryl?  Daryl, can you hear me?”  Daryl groaned when a hand moved up to his forehead, and a brighter light flashed in one eye and then the other.  “Pupils are responsive.  Daryl Dixon?  Can you hear me?” 

“Yeah,” he mumbled, taking another painful breath. He coughed, and he felt like his chest was ripping apart.

“It’s ok.  Relax.  You’ve just come out of surgery.  I’m pushing something into your IV that’ll help you with the pain.”  He blinked a few times, unable to focus on much of anything.  And then the pain slowly began to fade away.  He took another deep breath, still feeling the ache but the sharpness was gone.  “Do you know where you are?”

“Grady Memorial?”

“No, sir.  You’re at King County Hospital.  You were brought here.  You were shot in the chest, and you were lucky.  Another inch to the right, and the bullet would have grazed your lung.”

“My wife,” he murmured.

“Your wife, sir?”

“You gotta call my wife.”

“I’m sorry.  The phone lines are down.  Cell services are down.”

“She ain’t gonna know where...I gotta find her.”  He started to sit up, and he felt a hand pushing him back against the mattress.

“You shouldn’t move.  You’ve just come out of surgery.  You’re going to be fine, but you need to rest.  You were lucky.”

“My wife.  She’s a doctor at Grady Children’s Hospital.  She’s…”

“Sir, you need to lay back!”  He blinked a few times and glanced up at the face that was giving him orders.  She was a young blonde woman, and her name tag read Amy H.  She was a nurse’s aide, and she looked like she was fresh out of school. 

“You gotta find her.  Gotta tell her I’m ok.  Where’s the doctor?”

“I’m…I’m not sure, sir.  They’re short-handed here.  I’m still in school.  I…I don’t have much experience.  I’m sorry, but I’m trying to help you, and…”

“Amy?  What are you doing in here?”  Daryl flinched at the sound of the voice from out in the hall.

“They left me with him.  They said he’ll pull through, and they needed the nurses somewhere else.  They told me what to do and…”  Another woman, a few years older, came into the room.

“Honey, you’re not supposed to…give me his chart.  I need you to go down the hall and check on the patient in 432.”

“I gave him some pain meds.  They showed me how, and…”

“Amy, go on.  I can take it from here.”  The younger woman nodded and hurried off.

“Mr. Dixon?  I’m Karen.  Are you in any pain?”

“A little, not much.  She gave me somethin’.”  He grunted and sat up a little.

“I need you to lay back down.”

“I need my clothes.  I need to get outta here.  Find my wife.”

“I wouldn’t advise you to…Mr. Dixon!”  Just as Daryl swung his legs over the side of the bed, he felt dizzy and had slumped over.  Karen helped him lay back down, and she pulled the blanket up over his legs.  “Please, just lay still.  I understand everything’s going crazy outside, but you’re safe here, and you seem to be immune to whatever’s going on out there.   

“God damn it,” Daryl bit out, slamming his fist into the mattress.  “I need my wife!”

“Okay.  Okay.  Is she here in the hospital?”

“No.  She’s in…she’s in Atlanta.  Grady Children’s Hospital.”

“Okay,” Karen said softly.  “Is she a nurse?”

“A doctor.  She’s a doctor.  She went to help tonight, and she don’t know I’m…”  He groaned in pain again, and Karen moved to help him sit up a little.  She put a pillow behind his back, and he leaned his head back.

“Her name’s Carol Dixon.  I just gotta know she’s ok.”

“Ok.  I’ll let you know if I hear anything.  I just need you to promise me you’ll stay in bed.  If you get up, you could risk falling, ripping your stitches, bleeding.  You need to rest.”  Daryl nodded weakly then, and swallowed hard.  “I’ll come check on you in a while.  Please don’t get up.”

“A’right.  Okay.”  She started to walk away.  “Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“I was out there with someone.  Another cop.  His name’s Tyreese Williams.  Is he here?  He ok?”

“You were brought in alone,” Karen offered.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know anything else.”  She turned and left, and Daryl grunted, shifting to sit up a little more.  He reached for the phone on his bedside table, and of course, there was no dial tone. 

It wasn’t long before the paid meds that young nurse aide had pushed started to pull him under again.  All he could think about as he drifted off to sleep was that he might never see his wife and daughter again, and that was more terrifying than anything else.

*~*~*~*~*

Apparently, a lot of other people had had the same idea, taking the back roads to get to the smaller towns on the outskirts of Atlanta.  They were about fifteen minutes outside of Atlanta when they felt the first rumble, and traffic slowed to a standstill.

Tyreese got out of the cruiser and walked up to Carol’s window.

“Did you feel that?” she asked.

“Yeah, I did.  What you wanna do?  You wanna double back?  Find another way?”

“What other way?” Carol asked.  “Everywhere we go, there are people trying to get out.  Those riots are driving people out, and…”  A strong wind blew over as jets flew overhead toward Atlanta.  “God, they were so low.”

“Turn on the radio.”  Tyreese nodded toward the dash, and Carol fumbled with the buttons before she found a clear station.

_“…reports of mass casualties are being confirmed from Atlanta, where new strains of the virus are infecting those that were otherwise immune.”_

“What?” Carol asked.  “That’s…that’s…that can’t be true.”  She shook her head. 

_“This global outbreak has touched every country, every major city in the world, and the CDC is still unable to come up with a cure.  Initial fears that this was a weaponized virus have been debunked, and the new theory is that this virus originated in contaminated waters off of the coast.  Still, this is just a theory, and not proven fact.  We’re here tonight with Dr. Edwin Jenner from the CDC in Atlanta.  Dr. Jenner, what is your theory on this virus?”_

_“Many are immune.  Most are not. We’ve seen countless people of all ages fall victim to this sickness. And I want to make this clear.  There are no new strains infecting the immune.  That’s just propaganda created to cause mass hysteria, which, let’s face it, is already happening.  If you’re immune to this virus, you’re immune.  It’s really quite heartbreakingly simple.  You either live or you die.”_

_“Is there any indicating factor that one may be immune?  Anything to look out for?”_

_“This virus is spreading fast.  We’re finding that incubation periods range from ten to seventy two hours.  If you’ve been exposed to someone in the last three days and haven’t fallen ill, you are likely immune.”_

_“And if you experience the symptoms?”  Silence.  “Dr. Jenner?”_

_“Frankly, if you’re experiencing the symptoms, the only thing you can do is make yourself comfortable and prepare yourself.”_

_“So you’re advising people not to seek medical care?”_

_“By all means, if that’s what you want to do, do it, but I am saying that as rapidly as this is spreading, as few answers as we’ve come up with, as deadly as this virus is, it’s come down to whether a person would rather spend their last hours in the comfort of home or in a crowded hospital with a hundred other dying people.”  He began to cough._

_“Dr. Jenner, are you alright?”_

_“You want to know what I believe?  I believe this is our extinction event.  I believe that we’ve been careless, that we’ve taken our resources and our world for granted, and now we’re paying the price.  I believe we’ve played God for so long and pushed the boundaries of science, and maybe somehow we’ve created this virus ourselves.”_

_“So you’re saying this may come from the CDC?”_

_“The CDC, medical schools, universities?  Who knows?” Jenner prompted.  “We don’t know, and that’s the thing.  We’re out of time.  Maybe in time, the immune will find the answer.  But I truly believe this is the end of an era.  Why some get to live and others die, we will never know, because frankly, that’s out of our hands and always has been.”_

_“Dr. Jenner, thank you for being here with us tonight.  We wish you luck.”_

_“Luck has nothing to do with it.  And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home and hope you’re immune.  Hope you wake up in the morning to keep asking these questions.”_

“Turn it off,” Tyreese muttered, and Carol did just that.  There was another rumble, and Carol jumped. 

“What was that?”

“I think I know, but I hope I’m wrong.”  Another rumble, and Tyreese closed his eyes. 

“Explosions?” Carol asked, voice coming out barely above a whisper.  “In Atlanta?”

“We need to get out of here now.”

“God,” Carol whispered.  “We have to get Sophia.  We have to….she’s…”

“Alright.  Let’s double back.  How far away is your house?”

“From here?  An hour.  Oh God.  What if…what if we’re too late?”

“We’re not.  Alright.  Look, we’re sticking together.  We’re getting out of this.  We’re surviving this.”

“Ok,” Carol panted, placing her hand on her stomach.  “Ok.  We’re getting out of this.  We’ll get Sophia, and then we’ll get to Daryl, and we’ll…we’ll go somewhere.  There has to be somewhere we can go until this is over.”

“You know any place?”

“I…the…the farm.  It’s secluded. It’s quiet.  We could stay there for a while.  We could.”

“Ok.  You’ll lead the way?”

“Yeah.  I can do that.  We just…have to get Daryl.”  She took a shaking breath.  

“Breathe,” Tyreese murmured.  “Breathe.  We both know Daryl.  He’s not gonna let this get him.  He’s gonna be there waiting for you.  You know that.”

“I know,” she breathed, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. 

“I’m gonna be right behind you.  Let’s double back, and we’ll get back to your girl, ok?”

“Ok.  Ok.”  She swallowed the lump in her throat and bit back the sob that threatened to escape.  Once Tyreese was in the car behind her, she backed up and turned the car around, heading back toward the outskirts of Atlanta, praying that when she got home, it wouldn’t be too late.

*~*~*~*

The house was dark when they pulled up outside.  Pretty much every house on the block was dark, with trash scattered to the winds and homes abandoned.  Smoke was heavy and thick, and Carol had to cover her mouth with her shirt as she walked up the steps. 

“They’re not here,” she panted.  “They would have gone.  They…they would’ve gone.”  The door was cracked open, and as she and Tyreese stumbled into the house, the first thing Carol saw was a note pinned under a rock on the foyer table.  She turned the light on and took the paper in her hand.

_Carol and Daryl,_

_Glenn came.  We heard the explosions.  Went back to the farm.  Sophia’s safe.  Beth’s safe.  Everybody’s ok.  Come as soon as you can.  We’ll stay put._

_Maggie_

“They’re gone,” she murmured.  “They already went back… _God.”_

“Ok.  That’s good.”

“I have no way of knowing if they made it,” Carol bit out, tears filling her eyes.  “They could have got caught in the explosions.  They could be…”

“Don’t think like that.  Carol.  Hey.  Listen.”  Tyreese put a hand on her shoulder.  “How far is the farm?”

“Far enough that the smoke shouldn’t reach it.”

“Ok.  Good.  So we’re going to go check on your girl, and then we’re going for Daryl.  Ok?  Daryl wouldn’t want you worrying, and he’s going to want a straight answer about Sophia when he sees you, right?”  Carol nodded.  “Right.  So, we need to make sure she’s ok, and then we need to go to him.  You with me?”

“Ok.”

“Good.  You need to pack anything?”

“I…”

“We might not be coming back.  So you think hard, ok?” 

“I need…five minutes.”

“Ok.  I’m grabbing food out of the kitchen.  You have flashlights?  Batteries in case the power goes out?”

“Basement.”

“Ok.  You go get what you need, and I’ll grab what I can.”

“How are you so calm?” Carol asked. “ Everything’s falling apart, and…”

“And I’d be falling apart too, but my sister would kick my ass if she was here to see that.  So I’m staying strong, because that’s what she’d do.  It’s the only thing I can do.  Now go on.  We’ll meet outside in five minutes.”  Carol nodded, hurrying up the stairs.  She went to the closet in her and Daryl’s bedroom, pulling out a big duffel bag.  She grabbed a few of Daryl’s shirts, a few pair of his jeans, and she grabbed some of her own clothes.  She grabbed underwear, a couple of her bras, some of his boxers and of course socks for the both of them. 

She reached up onto the top shelf and grabbed a small lock box.  She rolled the dials down for the correct combination, and she pulled out a small handgun, one that she hadn’t been crazy about having in the house, but one that Daryl insisted on having based on everything he’d seen in his career as a cop.  She grabbed the box of ammo, too, and she stuffed those in the duffel bag. 

Next, she hit Sophia’s room, grabbing some of her clothes as well as a couple of the books she liked to read.  Then she hit the hall closet, grabbing a box with all of their family photos in it.  Carol had meant to put them in an album, years ago, but she’d never found the time.  Now, she was just grateful to have most of them in one place, save for the ones on the walls downstairs, but she knew she had copies in that box.  So many memories over so many years were in that box, and she didn’t want to part with it.  She couldn’t.  Maybe she was overreacting.  Maybe they would be back home in a matter of days or weeks.  But nothing was promised now, and she didn’t want to risk never having the chance to save these memories.

By the time she got downstairs, Tyreese was loading one last box of food into the back of the police cruiser. 

“You get what you needed?”

“Yeah.  Did you find the batteries?”

“Yeah.  Found those camping lanterns and this.”  He held up Daryl’s crossbow and a bag full of arrows.  “These might come in handy.  I figure Daryl might want to hold onto that.”  Carol nodded, tossing the duffel bag into the back seat of her car and taking Daryl’s crossbow into her hands.  It had been a long time since he’d taken that out hunting.  But she knew he was a good shot with it, and the scary thing was that with the way things were going now, it might just come in handy.  She knew she could use it if she had to.  He’d taught her a few things with it.  But it was Daryl’s, and she intended on making sure he had the opportunity to use it again.

She put it in the back seat of the car and turned to Tyreese.

“We’ll go to the farm and then off to King County.  I want to get to him before whatever happened in Atlanta happens there.”

“We’ll get there,” Tyreese promised.  “Come on.  Let’s get outta here.”


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_“I’m dyin’.”_

_“You big baby.”_

_“I think I got a fever.”_

_“You’re sweating because you have three blankets piled on top of you, and it’s seventy degrees outside.”_

_“I’m freezin’.  Check my throat.  Is it red?”  He opened up wide, and Carol sighed, humoring him and flashing her pen light to the back of his throat._

_“It looks like a normal throat that’s irritated because of a minor cold.”_

_“You sure?  No spots?”_

_“I’m sure.”  She sat on the edge of the couch and put her hand to his forehead.  “No fever.”_

_“Your hand as accurate as a thermometer?”_

_“No, but I took your temperature twice ten minutes ago and you were at a cool 98.9.”_

_“That’s high, right?”_

_“Normal is 98.6.”_

_“So it’s a fever?”_

_“Oh my God,” Carol sighed.  “You’re fine.  You remember when I was pregnant with Sophia?  I threw up while I was with a patient.  If I can survive that, you can survive this.”_

_“Women are stronger than men.”_

_“Well, I’m not going to argue there, Pookie.”  Carol leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead._

_“Watch out, you might catch it.”  Carol sighed and shook her head._

_“You know what I’m going to do?  I’m going to go make you some chicken noodle soup.”_

_“With crackers?  And a cherry popsicle?”_

_“How about I just bring you everything out of the kitchen?”_

_“Just soup then,” Daryl grumbled.  Carol pouted for a moment, and Daryl groaned.  “I think I really am dyin’.”  The alarm went off on Carol’s phone._

_“Oh thank God.”_

_“What?”_

_“It’s time for your meds.”  She grabbed the bottle off of the coffee table.  Daryl made a face.  “Do I have to get the airplane spoon like we use for Sophia?”_

_“No,” he muttered.  “Don’t like it though.”_

_“Well, it’s either take this or lay here and die.”_

_“See?  I told ya I was dyin’.”_

_“Shut up and open your mouth.”  Daryl sighed and obliged, and Carol poured a dose of medicine into the cap.  Daryl took it and drank it down, but not before making a show of how gross he thought it was.  Carol sighed until he relaxed against the couch, and Daryl glared up at her._

_“What?”_

_“Oh, nothing.  I was just remembering a time when I was so attracted to you.  When can I have that Daryl back?”  Daryl scowled, and Carol smirked.  “I’ll be back with your soup.”  She stood to leave, and Daryl reached out and took her hand._

_“Thanks for puttin’ up with me,” he muttered.  Carol chuckled and leaned down to kiss his forehead._

_“In sickness and in health.  Weren’t those our vows?  I love you even when you’re a whining, coughing crybaby.”_

_“Love you too,” he snorted.  Carol gently brushed her palm across his forehead, and he closed his eyes, leaning into her touch.  She chuckled softly to herself and shook her head before she started into the kitchen to make his soup.  “You’re comin’ back, right?” he hollered from the living room, as she grabbed a can of soup out of the cupboard.  Carol chuckled and shook her head._

_“I’ll always come back, Daryl.  I promise.”_

*~*~*~*~*

The farm was dark save for a couple of dim lights in the front windows.  Carol recognized Hershel’s truck parked next to a smaller car she’d never seen before.  The only sound she could hear when she got out of the car was the sound of gravel crunching under her feet and the cows out in the barn. 

“This is my Uncle’s place,” Carol explained, gripping her keys tightly in her hands.  “It’s quiet.  A good place to stay put for a few days.  My Uncle was a vet.  There’ll be medical supplies.  Some of them we can use.”  Tyreese had discarded the sling, but Carol could tell he was in pain.  “Are you ok?”

“Good.  You ready?”

“Yeah.  I…”  Before they could walk up to the house, the front door flew open, and Sophia came running out.

“Mama!” she cries, rushing into Carol and hugging her around the middle.  Carol closed her eyes, breathing a sigh of relief as she hugged her daughter tightly. 

“Sophia, are you ok?!  Let me look at you, baby.”  Carol gently held Sophia back and knelt down in front of her.  “Are you hurt?”  She shook her head.

“We heard the explosions.  Glenn came.  He’s really nice, Mom.  He brought us back here.” 

“Thank God,” Carol murmured, hugging her daughter again.  “Everyone’s ok?”

“Yeah.  Where’s Daddy?”

“We’re going to get him, ok?  Do you remember Tyreese?”  Sophia nodded.

“Hi, Sophia.”

“Hi,” she said shyly. 

“We’re going to get your dad, ok?” Carol urged, as Maggie and Beth came running out of the house with a young Asian man whom Carol assumed to be Glenn. 

“I wanna come with you.”

“Honey, it’s too dangerous,” Carol said softly, taking her daughter’s hand.  “Tyreese and I are going, and we’ll bring him back as soon as we can, ok?” 

“No, don’t leave,” Sophia begged, eyes welling with tears.  Carol stood then, and Beth came to hug her. 

“What happened out there?”

“I don’t know,” Carol murmured.  “We got out.  That’s what matters.  Are you girls ok?”

“We’re fine.  Glenn got us out after the first explosion.  There was so much smoke,” Maggie murmured. 

“Thank you,” Carol choked out, nodding to Glenn.

“They said on the radio that there were bombs in Atlanta.”

“Daddy’s in Atlanta!” Sophia whimpered.

“No.  No, he’s not.  They took him out of Atlanta,” Carol promised.  Sophia’s eyes widened, and Carol realized she’d said too much.

“Took him?  Where is he?”

“Sophia, I need you to be brave,” Carol urged.  “Can you do that for me?”

“I wanna go with you,” she sobbed. 

“Hey,” Tyreese spoke up.  “Do you remember when you were about five?  Your dad got hurt at work, and I drove him home from the hospital?”  Sophia nodded, wiping at her eyes.  “See, it’s gonna be just like that.  Your mom and me, we’re going to get your dad, and we’re going to bring him home to you.  He’s gonna be ok, alright?”  Sophia shook her head, and Carol hugged her daughter again.

“I love you so much.  You know that?” Carol asked.  Sophia nodded and sniffled, and Carol squeezed her hands.  “I want you to stay here with Maggie and Beth and Glenn.  You’ll be safe here.”  She looked up at Maggie who nodded. 

“Sophia, this is the safest place I’ve ever known,” Maggie insisted.  “We’ve got all kinds of food, all kinds of room to spread out, and we have a big cellar to hide in if anything bad happens.  But it won’t, right?  All the bad stuff is staying off this farm.  Ok?”  Sophia nodded and wiped at her eyes again. 

“Ok,” Sophia whimpered.

“Ok,” Carol sighed.  “Ok.  You’re going to be ok.”

“How will we know if something happens?” Sophia asked.

“Take this,” Tyreese offered, tossing Maggie a small radio.  “Push the button on the side to talk.  It’s got about a thirty mile radius.  We’ll check in before we hit King County.  We’ll check in when we leave.  The other radio’s in the cruiser, and that one’s fully charged.  If you don’t hear from us by high noon, turn the walkie off to save the battery.  I don’t have a charger to give you.”

“Ok,” Maggie nodded, turning to Carol.  “Be careful out there.”

“We will.  You look after Beth and Sophia, and I promise you we’ll have Daryl home as soon as we can.”  She pulled Maggie aside.  “Tyreese says he was shot.  I don’t know how bad.  Just please try to keep Sophia calm.”

“I will.  I promise.”  Maggie pulled Carol into a hug, and Carol closed her eyes, swallowing back her fear as Tyreese headed back toward the cruiser. 

“We’ve got supplies.  Food.  Clothes.  Wanna give me a hand?” Tyreese asked, motioning Beth and Glenn over.  They started pulling boxes and bags out of Carol’s car and out of the police cruiser.

“Ok.  Ok.  I have to go,” Carol murmured, leaning down to hug Sophia again.  “I love you.”

“I love you.  Tell Daddy…”

“You can tell him yourself, ok?”  Sophia nodded, and Carol hugged her once again.  “Hey, I’m gonna see you soon.”  She kissed the top of Sophia’s head and finally let her go.   She moved over to Glenn who was carrying the duffel bag she’d packed.

“Hershel had a shotgun.  Maggie will show you where it is.”  She dug into the duffel bag and pulled out the small handgun and the box of bullets she’d gotten from home.  “If you hear jets, get the girls to the cellar.  Promise me.”

“I will.  I promise.  Be careful out there.”  Carol nodded.  “Thanks again.  You might have saved their lives tonight.”  Glenn nodded, and Carol  turned back to watch Maggie pull Sophia into a hug. The girl sobbed against her, and Carol’s heart broke.  She hated leaving her little girl, but there was no way she was taking her out there.  Who knew what was waiting in King County?  Who knew what they would have to wade through just to get to Daryl.  If they could get to him.  If he was still…

She shook away the bad thoughts.  She had to focus.  She had to get to him and get her family back together.

Carol turned toward the cars and took a deep breath. 

“You know how to use that thing?”                                                                             

“Daryl showed me.  I know how to use it.  I just don’t want to have to.”

“You keep it on the seat next to you,” Tyreese instructed.  “We get separated, anybody tries to hurt you…”

“I know,” Carol bit out.  “I know what I have to do.”  She didn’t like it one bit.  She didn’t like what was going on around her.  But people were dying, and many of those that weren’t dying were killing or rioting.  She was getting back to Daryl no matter what, and she just hoped she wouldn’t have to pull that trigger at all. 

*~*~*~*

Daryl jerked awake, grimacing in pain as his eyes flew open to darkness.  He panted, holding his hand to his side, over the bandage.  He looked around, looking for any sign of a nurse or a doctor.  Instead, the only thing he saw was the dim light from the one light on above the nurse’s station.  He could hear screaming somewhere down the hall.  He could hear gunfire, and in his haze, he couldn’t tell if it was inside or outside the hospital. 

“Nurse?”  His voice was weak, and his throat was scratchy.  He groaned, grabbing the side of the bed and pulling himself up to sit.  Searing pain ripped through him, and he muffled his pained yell by biting his lip.  “Fuck!”  He doubled over, dizzy and fighting for breath.  “Nurse!”  No one came.  He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out.  Hell, maybe he was really dead, and this was his own personal hell.  Whatever the case was, he wasn’t going sit around waiting for help to come to him. 

He grabbed the nearest thing to the bed which happened to be the IV pole, and he pulled himself up to stand.  His breath came in a heavy wheeze, and with each breath came more pain.  He stumbled into the bathroom and flicked on the light switch.  It flickered for a moment, long enough to illuminate his pale face, the bandage above his brow and the bled-through bandage on his side.   Then the light went out.  He bent over the sink, turning on the tap and splashing some cool water on his face.

Somehow, he managed to stumble out of the bathroom and toward the hall, leaning against the nurse’s station, looking for any sign of help.  But when he heard gunshots coming from down the hall, he ducked back into his room, knocking over the IV pole in the process.  He sucked in a sharp breath, wincing in pain, and he pulled the needle from his arm, kicking the pole away from him and pressing himself up against the wall. 

“You get supplies?” he heard a voice ask. 

“You kidding?”

“You break into a cabinet?”

“Tried.  They’re fucking shatter proof or something.  I made some chick in a white coat open it before I put her lights out.”

Daryl held his breath then, and he looked around for anything aside from his cast aside IV pole that he could use as a weapon.  What the fuck was going on out there anyway?

“Come on, man.  Get the rest of the shit and let’s go.  Rumor has it the riots are heading this way.  Means the bombs won’t be far behind.”  There was a shuffle of feet out in the hall.  “What’s taking…what the hell, man?  Is that…is that a fucking rash?”  Daryl moved slightly to peek out into the hall to see the two men carrying backpacks and guns standing toe to toe.  “You’re fucking sweating, man.  Why didn’t you…you’ve got it.”

“No, I swear I don’t.”

“God damn it, you told me you were immune.  You told me…I got a fucking family, Tony!”  The other man raised his gun, and Tony balked, backing up against the nurse’s station, fumbling with his own weapon.

“Len, c’mon man, don’t—”  The man put him down without a second though, reached down for his weapon and pack and took off down the hall.  Fucking murderers and looters.  He opened a cabinet in his room, looking for the clothes he wore coming in.  His clothes were there, but his weapon wasn’t. 

“Fuck,” he hissed under his breath, leaning against the wall and attempting to dress but finding it almost impossible in the amount of pain he was in.  He shut the door then, slowly moving back toward the bed.  Everything was spinning again, gunfire rattled the windows, and he knew he wasn’t going to make it to the bed.  He reached the chair next to the bed and fell into it, slumping over and feeling as if everything was spinning, and in moments everything went black again.

*~*~*~*~*

 _“Widespread panic has erupted across the nation and overseas as well, as the virus continues to kill more than one thousand people each hour.  Immune and ill alike are looting and rioting across the globe, leaving more injured or dead amid the violence.  We encourage our listeners to stay home and lock down your homes until the crisis passes.  The military is…”_  

Carol turned the radio off abruptly and felt a shiver run up her spine.  She grabbed the small handgun, making certain to load the clip before she got out of the car.  Tyreese handed her a flashlight when she met him outside the hospital entrance.

Looking up, several of the floors were dark, save for a few windows illuminated by flickering hall lights.  Broken glass was littered across the front where the big, automatic doors once stood.  It looked as if someone had blasted them out, as if they had deliberately been destroying the place which was once supposed to be a safe haven for the ill.

“This is where they took him?” she asked.

“Don’t panic,” Tyreese urged.

“Don’t panic?  Look at this place.  If he’s here, he’s….”  She shook her head and took a step back, hand shaking as she clasped it over her mouth.  “I can’t…”

“You can.  You can do this.  You’ve gotta believe he’s ok.  Just…”  Gunshots echoed through the air, and Carol gasped.  Tyreese pulled his gun out, holding it up, steady, surveying the area for any sign of danger.  When he lowered his gun, he nodded toward the hospital.

“Keep your gun out and up.  Keep your finger off the trigger.  We don’t need any accidents.”  Carol looked him in the eye then, and she nodded.  “You can do this.”  She nodded again.  “Ok. Stay behind me.”  They moved toward the entrance.  Glass crunched under their feet. 

A scream rang out from somewhere in the hospital, and Carol gasped softly behind him.  He held his hand up, and they paused.

“This is Tyreese Williams.  Atlanta PD.  If you need assistance, I need you to call out to me now!” Silence.  “Atlanta Police!  If you need assistance, I need you to let me know you’re here!”  He turned to Carol.  “You know this hospital?”

“A little.  I did a few rounds here in my residency when they were short staffed.”

“Where do they take surgical patients?”

“Sixth floor,” Carol murmured, a hitch in her voice.

“Ok.  We’ll take the stairs.  Gun up.”  Carol raised her gun a little higher, and she nodded, biting back the urge to cry.  The tears pooled in her eyes and spilled over, but she didn’t make a sound.

They took each flight slowly, and Tyreese opened each door to each floor, listening for any sounds.  The smell of blood hung heavy in the air.  The screams had stopped, and the only sound he could hear was the buzz from half-broken lights as they willed themselves to shine.  The place was mostly dark.  Bodies scattered the floors, slumped over on gurneys, sat back against walls, eyes wide, jaws slack. 

“We should help them.”

“There ain’t no helping them,” Tyreese urged, putting his hand on Carol’s arm to stop her.  “They’re gone.  Looks like somebody came through and wiped ‘em all out.  Every one of them.  Even the immune.”  He put his hand over his mouth as the smell of copper and gunpowder filled his nostrils.  Carol flinched and looked away.  She knew what this could mean.  She knew that might mean that when she found Daryl, there would be nothing to save.  But she wasn’t giving up.  She couldn’t.  He wouldn’t give up on her.

The sun was starting to rise, filtering in through the windows, leaving and eerie glow about the hospital corridors.  They reached the sixth floor in minutes, and Carol felt a wave of nausea hit her.  She doubled over, hand on her stomach, and Tyreese turned to her.

“You ok?”

“I’m ok.  I’m just…I’m fine.”  She breathed heavily, waiting for the nausea to pass, and then she straightened and wiped the sweat from her brow.  “Ok.  Let’s go.”

*~*~*~*

Daryl heard a gasp, and then the shuffling of feet, and as he cracked one eye open to the bright sun filtering through the window, he winced in pain. 

“Mom!  He’s waking up!”  Daryl felt a hand against his forehead, a familiar touch, soft and warm.  He moaned softly, shifting in the bed, blinking a few times to let the blurry faces come into focus.  First he saw Sophia standing by the bed, fingers gripping the blanket as she watched with worry.  Then he saw her face.  Carol’s.  She was bending over him, a mix of emotions in her eyes.  Fear.  Worry.  Relief.  Love. 

“Ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he whispered, getting first a smile and then a laugh from her. He felt her tears fall upon his cheek, and she buried her face against his chest, sobbing as his hand moved to caress the back of her head.  “How long I been out?”

“Almost two days,” Carol sniffled.

“Daddy, are you ok?” Sophia asked, coming around to the other side of the bed.  He reached out for her, taking her little hand in his.

“I got my girls.  Couldn’t be better, could I?”  Sophia gently threw her arm around his neck, hugging him before pulling back.  “What kinda hug was that?  Get back here.”  Sophia grinned, and she hugged him a little tighter.  When she pulled back, she had tears in her eyes.  “Hey, don’t cry.”

“I was scared you weren’t gonna wake up.”

“I’m awake.  I’m ok,” he promised.

“Sophia,” Carol whispered, straightening up and wiping at her own eyes.  “Why don’t you go let the others know he’s awake?”  Sophia nodded eagerly, leaned down and kissed her father’s cheek and then hurried off. 

“Love you, Daddy!” she hollered as she hurried out the door.

“Oh my God,” Carol breathed, crumbling into the chair next to his bed.  Daryl’s gaze never left her.  “I was so scared.  I didn’t know what to…I couldn’t…”  She shook her head.

“Breathe, sweetheart,” Daryl murmured.  “It’s ok.”

“It’s _not_ ok!  You didn’t see how it…they killed everybody.  Somebody came in and…”  She sniffled and ran her fingers through her short, grey hair that was sticking up in every which direction in the back, probably from lack of sleep or a restless sleep.  The former, if he knew his wife well enough. 

“I saw them.  A couple guys.  Think there was more.  The place shook, and they were puttin’ people down.  The one guy killed his buddy ‘cause he was sick.  It was…I don’t remember anything after that.  I was pretty sure I wasn’t gonna wake up.”  He swallowed hard.  “How’d you find me?”

“Tyreese,” she sniffled.

“He’s alright?”

“He’s good.  He’s resting.  He was kind of beat up.  I don’t think he let himself really feel everything until we got you back here safely.”

“He’s gonna be ok, though?”

“You’re in worse shape than he was, and you’re just fine.  He’s going to be sore for a few days.”  She sniffled and wiped at her eyes before moving to the small en suite bathroom.  She washed her hands, dried them and came back carrying some supplies.  “We managed to grab what we could at the hospital.  Everything was a mess.”

“Anybody get out?”

“I think so.  We heard some cars pulling out when we were bringing you down the stairs.  I helped Tyreese get you out.”

“Oh God,” he muttered.  “The baby?  You didn’t…”

“We’re fine,” Carol promised.  “Don’t worry about that right now.”  She leaned down and kissed his forehead, being mindful of the cut on his forehead.

“They stitch me up at the hospital?”

“No, it was a superficial cut.  I took off the bandage to let it breathe for a bit.  I don’t see any infection.”

“How lucky’d I get to marry a doctor, huh?”

“Pretty damn lucky,” Carol chuckled.  “The good news is that the bullet was through and through.  You’re going to be sore for a few weeks, but you were lucky that it didn’t hit any vital organs.  I’m going to keep changing your bandages every few hours.  Oh.  And, I have these for you.”  She pulled a bottle of pills from her pocket.

“What’s that?”

“Antibiotics.  We need to get you started on them right away.  The sooner the better.  Just in case.” 

“Right,” Daryl murmured, as Carol handed him a glass, popped open the cap and handed him a pill.  He swallowed it down and relaxed back against the bed. 

“How much does it hurt?”

“Like hell,” he offered.  “But I’ve felt worse.”  Carol’s hand shook as she started to pull at his bandage, and Daryl gently curled his fingers around hers.  She closed her eyes, shoulders shaking, and Daryl brought her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles.  “You came back for me.”

“I always come back,” she chuckled.  “Remember?”

“Yeah,” he murmured, chuckling despite the pain.  “How bad is it?”

“You’re gonna be ok.”

“Not me.  Out there.” 

“It’s bad,” she murmured, gently peeling back the bandage from his side.  He groaned, looking down to see what would eventually be a small scar.  “What happened at the hospital wasn’t a solitary incident.  It’s happening everywhere.  The television broadcasts have stopped.  There’s nothing.  There are a couple of radio stations still going.  We haven’t seen a helicopter fly over.  Or a plane.  Nothing.  No for almost a day and a half.”

“The bombs?”

“They still aren’t sure about what happened in Atlanta.  There are a lot of theories.  This is gonna sting.”  Daryl closed his eyes as Carol poured peroxide over the wound.  She quickly placed gauze over it and began to patch him back up.  “We’re staying here for a few days.  Until the explosions stop.  Until the gunfire stops.  We’re still hearing it through the night, but the days are quiet.”  She sniffled and wiped at her brow with the back of her hand.  “Beth’s boyfriend Jimmy died early this morning.”

“What?”

“He came to help.  He was sick.  Feverish.  Glenn found him doubled over in the barn.  He died a few minutes later.  Beth…she’s a wreck.”

“Poor kid,” he muttered.

“Yeah.”

“Sophia?  She’s ok?”

“She’s been scared, but Maggie keeps her busy.”

“This thing ain’t blowin’ over is it?”

“No,” Carol choked out.  “I don’t think it is.  The best thing we can hope for is to wait it out and see what’s left.”  Daryl reached out and squeezed her hand.

“Hey.  Look at me.”  Carol sniffled and looked at Daryl, and he brought his hand to her cheek.  “We’re together.  Our family.  We got each other, we got Soph, and we’re gonna get through this.”

“We are,” she agreed.  “You should rest.”

“So should you.”

“I’m ok,” she promised.  “You’re the one I’m worried about.”

“Well I ain’t gonna rest until I know you’re restin’.  C’mere.”

“You’re hurt.”

“Just this side’s hurt.  This side’s still good.”  He scooted over a little on the bed, and Carol chuckled. 

“You’re gonna break your stitches.”

“Good think I’m married to a doctor.”  Carol laughed then, really laughed for the first time in days, and she sniffled, getting up and walking around the bed.  She gently settled down on the bed next to him, and he pulled his arm around her.  She rested her cheek against his chest, and he kissed the top of her head. 

“Are you sure this is ok?”

“Mmm,” he murmured sleepily.  Carol smiled then, lifted her head to look him in the eye, and she saw a little grin play across his lips.  “I love you.”  She kissed him softly then, and he sighed against her lips. 

“Love you too,” he whispered, as Carol lay her head back down and let the steady beat of his heart lull her to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 

_“Daddy?”_

_“Yeah, Soph?”  Daryl asked as he tucked his five-year-old daughter into bed.  He often got home late, but he tried not to ever miss a bedtime._

_“How did you and Mommy meet?”_

_“I told you that story before.  I know I did.”_

_“Tell it again.”_

_“You want the once upon a time story or…”_

_“No, tell me the real story, Daddy.”_

_“Well,” Daryl said quietly, “Daddy was out fighting the bad guys and got hurt, and Mommy was working at the hospital that night.  Mommy stitched Daddy up, and it took a_ lot _of convincin’, but she finally agreed to go on a date with me.”_

_“How long was it ‘til you got married?”_

_“A while,” Daryl chuckled.  “Took a little less convincin’ that time.”_

_Carol put her hand over her mouth as she listened through the crack in the door._

_“Was it like in the movies?”_

_“What?  Love at first sight?”_

_“Uh-huh.”_

_“Well, I ain’t so sure about your mom, but I know it didn’t take long ‘til I knew I was gonna marry her.”  Carol bit her lip and held her hand to her chest.  “See, I think it was our second date.  Your Mommy was wearing this pretty blue dress, and her hair was all curled and pulled up.  I got to her house early, and she didn’t see me parked out there.  But I saw her lookin’ out the window, bitin’ her lip.  You know how Mommy does that when she’s nervous?”  Sophia giggled.  “She was bitin’ her lip, and she kept running her hands over her hair.  She looked so nervous, and she looked like a Princess all dolled up like that.  But the thing is, the first time I saw her, she was so tired, and she’d been workin’ all day.  Her hair was a mess.  Don’t ever tell her I told you that.”  Sophia laughed again, and Carol felt the tears filling her eyes as she bit back a giggle._

_“I won’t,” Sophia promised._

_“But I took your mama to dinner that night, and I didn’t know they were gonna have dancin’.  She wanted to dance.  And Daddy can’t dance to save his life. But I sure as hell wasn’t gonna let your mama down.  I figured I’d take her to dance, and I’d embarrass myself, and when it was over, at least she’d know.  So we got out there, and I didn’t know what to do, and your mama just looked at me, and she put her arms around my neck and told me where to put my hands, and she told me she didn’t much care about dancing anyway.  She just wanted to be with me.  That’s when I knew I was never gonna meet another woman like your mama.”_

_“Does Mommy know?”_

_“Oh, I don’t know. She might,” Daryl shrugged.  “I’ll tell ya, you and your Mama are the two best things that ever happened to me.”_

_“Daddy?”_

_“Hmm?”_

_“I want a little brother.”_

_“Whoa.  Where’d that come from?”_

_“A boy at school just had a little brother.  I want one, too.  Can you ask Mommy?”  Daryl chuckled and ran a hand over the back of his neck._

_“I’ll run that one by her, see what she says, ok?”_

_“Thanks, Daddy.”_

_“Good night, Soph.”  Carol quickly stepped away from the door when she heard Daryl getting up to leave.  She hurried to the bedroom and was under the covers before Daryl came back in._

_“Hey,” he said with a nod, coming into the room.  She smiled and patted the bed, urging him to come lay down._

_“She’s sleeping?”_

_“On her way to it.”_

_“Good,” Carol murmured, as Daryl lay down and she curled up against him.  “Soph wants a baby brother.  She asked me to ask you.”  Carol snorted then, and Daryl chuckled._

_“Well, we’ll see.”  She leaned up and gave him a soft kiss._

_“I know you were hidin’ behind that door.”_

_“What?”_

_“You ain’t that quiet.  You forget I learned how to hunt and track.”_

_“Crap,” Carol chuckled._

_“How much did you hear?”_

_“All of it.”  She kissed him softly.  “Just so you know, that’s the same night I fell in love with you.”_

*~*~*~*~*

“You ain’t goin’.”

“Excuse me?” Carol balked, folding her arms across her chest.  “Daryl, I’m a _doctor_.  I know what we need.  I know what _I_ need.”

“Then you can write ‘em it all down and give me a list.”

“Daryl.  You almost _died_ two weeks ago.  If you think I’m letting you go out there by yourself, then you’re…”

“We don’t know what’s out there.  Or who.  We ain’t heard gunfire in over a week.  It’s quiet.  No planes.  No cars drivin’ by.  For all we know, everybody out there’s dead.  But I sure as hell ain’t willing to risk my pregnant wife gettin’ hurt out there.”  Carol glanced around quickly to see if anybody had been in earshot.  She and Daryl were keeping that bit of information to themselves for now.

“We won’t go far.  Just to the little town up the road.  We can take Maggie.  She worked there.”   Daryl shook his head, but Carol put her hands on her hips.

“Maggie ain’t goin’ nowhere ‘til she learns how to handle herself with a gun.”

“Fine.  We’ll take Tyreese, leave a rifle with Glenn to keep watch here.  We need to stock up.  Antibiotics.  Vitamins.  Bandages.  And I know we have a whole cellar full of food, but that will only last the winter.  We need supplies, Daryl.”

“I know that.  I just don’t…”

“I know you don’t want me getting hurt.  But we have to know what’s going on out there.  The radio is silent.  We’re lucky to have Hershel’s old generator to keep the lights on, but even that won’t last forever.  We need to get ready for whatever’s coming.  And I’m not going to sit around the house and worry about you while you’re out there.  I’m going.  I’m helping whether you like it or not.”  Daryl was quiet for a moment, and when Carol finally let out a huff of a breath, a smile tugged at his lips. 

“I just acted like a caveman, didn’t I?”

“A little bit.  But a protective caveman, so I’ll give you a pass,” Carol chuckled, bringing her arms around his neck as they stood out by Hershel’s old truck.  She kissed him softly then, and he sighed, leaning his forehead against hers.

“I’m gonna worry about ya, no matter what.  Whether you’re stayin’ here or out there with me.”

“Then that’s all the more reason I should come with you.  I can handle a gun.  I can take care of myself.  Tyreese and I found you and got you back here, didn’t we?” 

“Yeah,” Daryl murmured.

“See?  Your wife can take care of herself just fine.”  She kissed him again and lowered her voice.  “And maybe if you’re feeling up to it, she can take care of _you_ a little bit tonight.”   Daryl was just getting back on his feet, which, luckily for Carol, was occurring just as her sex drive was revving up.  She remembered being insatiable for a couple weeks during the early months of her first pregnancy.  But she’d given Daryl some time, because the last thing she wanted was for him to be in any pain.

“Yeah?” Daryl murmured.  “Maybe we’ll cut this run short, just check things out and go back tomorrow.”  Carol shook her head and kissed him again.

“We need to get everything we can.  We’ll be in and out in an hour, and at least we can see what’s going on, if there’s anybody in town.”

“Think I like it when you take charge,” Daryl chuckled. Carol smirked and pulled out of his embrace.  “So, we’re going.”  It wasn’t a question.  He knew there was no talking her out of going, and as much as he didn’t want her to go, he knew she could handle herself.  Still, there was no accounting for who or what they might run into.  Many people died, some people lived, and some of those people were pretty terrible and not the sort that a person would want to run into.

“Have you seen Maggie?” Carol asked, glancing around the property.

“Out by the well with Tyreese and Glenn.  They were bringing water in,” Daryl murmured.  “Sophia and Beth were working on the garden.” 

They headed around to the back of the house, where Glenn and the girls had started a small garden a few days ago.  Nothing had sprouted yet, and while it was pretty late in the spring to be planting, they were hopeful they would have enough to can and store with the other canned vegetables in the cellar. 

Beth was pulling weeds, while Sophia used a heavy tin watering can to dampen the red soil.

“Careful, Soph.  Gotta make that water last.”  Sophia looked up at the sound of her father’s voice.  She smiled when she saw her parents walking up hand in hand.

“Hi, Daddy.” 

“Need any help?” Carol offered.

“We’re good,” Beth said with a smile.  Beth had really taken to gardening.  Carol was pretty sure it kept her busy and took her mind off of everything.  With Hershel passing and then Jimmy so quickly after, she’d been through a lot, but gardening seemed to keep her calm and focused.  Carol had even heard her singing a few times. 

“Will you be alright for a few hours, while we run into town?” Carol asked.  Sophia’s smile faded.

“Don’t leave.”

“Soph, we gotta get a few things.  Medicine, stuff we’re gonna want to stock up on.”  Sophia put the watering can down and started toward the house.

“Sophia?”  She let go of Daryl’s hand, and they followed after their daughter, stopping with her on the porch steps. 

“I wish we could go home.”

“I know,” Carol sighed.  “I’m sorry that we can’t.”

“When is this gonna be over?”  Sophia moved to sit on the porch swing.  “I miss my friends and my teacher.”  Carol and Daryl glanced at one another.  “Are they all dead?”

“I don’t know, Soph,” Daryl murmured.  “I wish I could tell ya they ain’t, but I can’t promise that.  What I do know is that a lot of people died.  A lot of bad stuff happened, and things are gonna be different for a while.  Maybe for a long, long time.”

“Don’t go into town.  Please,” Sophia begged.

“We have to, honey,” Carol murmured.  “But we won’t be gone long.”

“Last time you left, you got hurt,” Sophia pointed out, looking to Daryl.

“That’s not gonna happen this time.  That I am gonna promise you.”  Daryl knelt down at eye level with his daughter.  “I promise.  Mom and me are gonna be back real soon.  Ok?”  Sophia looked to her mother and then to her father and nodded slowly.

“Ok.” 

“Alright.  Now gimme a hug.”  Sophia obliged, hugging her father tight around the neck.  When she let go, she moved to hug her mother, and Carol kissed the top of her head.

“You’ll stay here with Beth, Glenn and Maggie,” Carol instructed. Sophia nodded.  “Stay in the garden.  Don’t wander off, ok?”

“I won’t,” Sophia promised.  “Hurry back.”

“We’ll be back before dark,” she promised her daughter.  “Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Go on.  Go back to the garden.”  Sophia gave her mother one more hug and before she headed back over to help Beth.

They found Glenn, Maggie and Tyreese resting after taking turns at the well pump. 

“Hey Tyreese,” Daryl called.  Tyreese turned, wiping the sweat from his brow.  He was still pretty sore from that night two weeks ago, but he was healing quickly and helping out a lot around the place, trying to keep busy and be useful.  “You up for a run?”

“Run?” Tyreese asked.  “Where?”

“Into town.  The pharmacy.  Maybe that small grocery, too, if they ain’t been looted.”

“You think it’s safe?” Tyreese asked, taking a ladle from one of the buckets and taking a long, satisfying drink. 

“Won’t know ‘til we get there,” Daryl pointed out.  “We need things, need to stock up.  Whatever happens, it’s probably gonna be best to stay here for the winter. Maybe we can make somethin’ permanent here if it works out.  But we need to get into town, see what we can see.”

“Alright,” Tyreese offered.  “I’ll get some gear, meet you in fifteen by the cars?”

“Thanks, Tyreese.”  Carol gave him a smile. She was forever thankful to him for what he’d done for her family that night.  He’d lost so much.  Hell, he wasn’t even sure his brother in law was still alive, but in the chaos that happened that night, there was no telling for certain, not without risking everything to go back and try to find him.  Plus, Tyreese hadn’t been any shape to go it alone, and he was still healing from his injuries, but he was getting stronger every day. 

“I’ll go,” Glenn offered.

“Thanks, but I’d feel better if you stayed here, kept an eye on the place.  Watch out for the girls,” Daryl murmured.

“I  can handle my daddy’s rifle,” Maggie pointed out.  “I can help.”

“Don’t need nobody else.  Don’t want everybody wanderin’ off.  Gotta keep someone here to look over things.  You and Glenn stay with Beth and Sophia.”

“You’ll be safe?” Maggie asked.

“If we get there, if we see any trouble at all, we’ll turn right back around,” Carol promised.  “But it’s a risk we have to take.  We have to see what’s going on.”

“Grab as many empty bags as you can, empty boxes, too.  We’ll grab what we can use, and make our way through town,” Daryl explained.  “We gotta move fast, in case somebody else is comin’ to do the same thing.”

“You think it’s like this everywhere?” Glenn asked.  “I mean, with what happened in Atlanta?  You think everything just…stopped?”

“Ain’t heard nothin’ for days.  Ain’t no broadcasts on TV, nothin’ on the radio.   It’s like the whole world up and died and left us behind to clean up the mess.”

*~*~*~*~*

The roads were clear for the most part.  There were a few roadblocks with abandoned vehicles and some questionable, red stains on the pavement.  The three of them rode in Hershel’s old truck.  Daryl drove, while Tyreese sat between him and Carol. 

“No cars out,” Carol noted, as Daryl took a turn toward Main Street.  There were cars parked out front of some of the houses, but in the case of many of those homes, the doors were wide open, or a quarantine notice was posted out front.  Many homes looked to be utterly abandoned.  Businesses were dark.  Many storefront windows were busted from looters. 

They passed by the free clinic, and Carol’s gaze focused on the bodies wrapped in white sheets that were loaded into the back of a truck.  A man in a white coat lay sprawled on the pavement, blood pooled around his head.

“Jesus,” Daryl muttered.  “If the virus didn’t kill ‘em, somebody sure as hell made sure to take care of it themselves.” 

“Pull around the back,” Carol urged.  “This place looks abandoned.  There might be stuff left we’ll need.  Stuff the pharmacy won’t have.”   Daryl nodded then, turning into the alley and pulling up behind the clinic. 

The employee entrance wasn’t locked, and Daryl stepped in first, handgun drawn.  Tyreese had found it on a dead security guard at the hospital the night they’d come to get him.  Tyreese had his own gun, and Carol had a firm grip on the one they’d taken from home.

“The back offices are going to have pills.  Samples.  We need bandages, syringes, anything you can grab,” Carol instructed.  File crates were stacked on an old desk, and papers were scattered on the floor.

“Looks like somebody’s been through here.”

“Looks like they were in and out fast.  They could’ve missed something,” Tyreese offered.

They moved together, room to room with the file crates in hand.  Carol hit the jackpot in the first exam room, grabbing a full box of syringes.  Daryl busted open a cabinet, and Carol grabbed vials of antibiotics and other medicines. 

“Shit, they got Vicodin and Oxy,” Daryl muttered, shaking his head.  _Merle would have a field day_.  He shook away the thought of his brother and all of his various issues as Carol instructed him to grab everything he saw.  They might need it.

The next room was almost empty save for a box of rubber gloves, which Tyreese grabbed.  They found birth control, prenatal vitamins, allergy medication, insulin, and other things that they loaded up on with the thought that they needed to be prepared for anything and everything.

By the time they left the clinic, a storm was rolling in.

“Put it in the back of the truck.  Pull the tarp over it, good and tight,” Daryl instructed, as they loaded their crates into the back.  The three of them worked to cover up their loot, and then they piled back into the truck, quiet as they continued on toward town.

Tyreese leaned forward and flipped on the radio, turning the dial to hear nothing but static.  After a few minutes, he flipped it back off and leaned back in the seat.

“You wanna split up, or go from store to store in a group?” he asked, glancing at Daryl.

“Stick together.  We’ll hit the pharmacy and then see what we can find at the grocery.  Anything canned or jarred.  Even some of the boxed stuff is gonna keep for a while.”

They pulled up outside of the pharmacy, and the window was busted.  Many of the shelves were bare, but it was still worth a look.

Carol hoisted a duffel bag over her shoulder and started grabbing soaps, shampoos, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.  Tyreese went for the extremely overpriced food section, grabbing protein bars and trail mix.  He threw in a few boxes of sugar free candy for the kids.  Carol moved to the feminine hygiene section, grabbing the last few boxes of tampons and packages of maxi pads.  She cleared off the shelf that had pregnancy tests and condoms, because who knew what was going to happen a year down the road, ten years down the road.  

Finally, they moved behind the counter, and Carol instructed them on what to look for.  Penicillin, amoxicillin, cephalexin and the like. Tyreese grabbed extra strength ibuprofin and aspirins.   They loaded up their bags until they couldn’t fit anything else.

“We comin’ back for more?” Daryl asked.

“We’re good for now. We can make another trip later.  I want to hurry in case anyone else is around,” Carol said with a nod, as  they hurried out of the store and to the truck, throwing their bags under the tarp in the back. 

They looked around, listened for any sign of other people, and once they were certain the coast was clear, they started across the street to the grocery.  Daryl grabbed a shopping cart, and they started through the aisles.  Most everything was cleared out, but they found some canned meats, a few cans of vegetables and some sardines.  Tyreese climbed up and grabbed a few boxes of cereal off the top shelf that somebody had missed or hadn’t been able to reach.   A horrid stench came from the cold section, as  green, rotting meet continued to putrefy in the Georgia heat. 

Carol felt a wave of nausea hit her and was at least able to pass that off as the smell getting to her.

“Feels like we’re robbin’ a grave,” Tyreese murmured, sliding a few jars of pickles into the cart.

“Smells like a grave,” Daryl scoffed, covering his mouth and nose as they passed the dairy section.  “Christ, that’s rank.”  Carol gagged, and Daryl gently put his hand on her arm.  “You ok?”

“Yeah.  I just need a minute.”  She leaned forward, hands on her knees, and she breathed deeply through her mouth, trying not to think about the smell.

“You gonna be alright?” Tyreese worried.

“I’m good.  Promise.”  She swallowed back the nausea and straightened herself up, moving toward the front of the store again, finding a few jars of pasta sauce as well as some elbow macaroni.

Thunder rumbled, shaking what was left of the storefront windows.

“We should hurry,” Daryl urged, as they started toward the front of the store, grabbing boxes and bags along the way to load up.  They packed everything into the back of Hershel’s truck and climbed inside as the first bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.  Soon, they were heading back toward the farm, keeping an eye out for any tell-tale sign of headlights in the distance.  But nothing came.  They drove along in silence, leaving the shell of what was once a sleepy small town for the safety and comfort of the farm.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Of the many perks of staying in a big, old farmhouse, the big, spacious rooms were some of the necessary and appreciated.  Sophia shared Beth’s room.  She slept on a daybed next to a beautiful picture window.  Maggie and Glenn shared, and while Carol wasn’t entirely keen on the idea, Maggie was a grown woman, and she wasn’t her mother.  Tyreese took Hershel’s old room, and while it was the biggest and it would have been more suitable for a married couple, Carol couldn’t bring herself to take his room, to sleep in the place she’d last seen him fighting to survive.  So, she and Daryl had taken the spare bedroom.  It was smaller but had a big enough bed, and it was a comfort at night.  One window peered out toward the woods, giving them a direct view of the footpath that led to the creek.  Another window looked out over the front of the house, making it easy to spot anybody coming up the lane.

Every day, Maggie and Beth would go out and tend the garden, and Sophia would help.  Meanwhile, Glenn and Tyreese would go around checking the perimeter to ensure the livestock weren’t leaving the property.   Carol had been spending her time the last couple of days sorting and stocking what they’d gotten from the stores and the clinic in town, and Sophia had been helping her with that.  Daryl hadn’t ventured too far from the house aside from the run into town, but now that he was starting to feel better, he was ready to get out and start scavenging.

Since the run two days ago, he was itching to get out and find more, though Carol wasn’t eager for him to go out on his own, because the last thing she wanted was to be separated from him again. 

So when she found him stringing his old cross bow and sitting on the tailgate of Hershel’s old truck, a newfound fear crept up on her, making that knot in her stomach tighten a little.

“You planning on going somewhere?” she asked.

“Thought I might take Glenn and explore one of the towns down the highway.”  Carol looked up at the sky.

“It might rain.”

“Rained the other day, and we made it back fine.”  Carol sat down next to him, and Daryl eyed her.  “You ok?”

“Yeah.  How are you feeling?”

“Better.  Pain’s bearable.”

“Good.  I wish you wouldn’t go so soon.”

“We still need a lot.  Don’t wanna have to start slaughterin’ the livestock.  We might need them to get us through the winter.”  It felt strange, hearing him talk about the future, as bleak as it was.  It was hard to believe that a few weeks ago, their biggest worries were making sure Sophia got her homework done and that the mortgage was paid.  Now, they had to worry about finding food, finding medical supplies and each day they were leaning more toward finding a sporting goods store for ammo and weapons just in case those that survived the virus and the savage realities that came after might come to take what they had or worse.  It felt like a nightmare. 

“Let me come with you.”

“I don’t want you gettin’ hurt.”

“I did just fine the other day.”

“Yeah, but we were lucky.  Didn’t run into nobody.”

“I can take care of myself,” Carol insisted.

“I ain’t sayin’ you can’t.”

“Well, good.  I’m going, and that’s that.”  Daryl eyed her for a moment.  “And don’t you dare use the baby as an excuse.  I’m pregnant, not sick or injured.  I don’t want to be treated like an invalid.”  Daryl opened his mouth and then promptly closed it.  “Now that that’s settled, I’ll get my gun.”  She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before heading back toward the house.  Daryl shook his head, unable to argue with his wife’s determination. 

“You going out again?”  Daryl turned to see Tyreese coming up toward the truck.

“Yeah.  We’re gonna head out and see what we can find.  You wanna come along?”

“Actually, I came to tell you that I’m leaving for a while.”

“What?” 

“Look, I don’t expect you to understand.  My sister’s husband was like my brother.  Abe was my partner in crime, I guess you could say.  We go way back.  I know it’s a long shot.  He might be dead.  He might be gone.  But I’ve got to see for myself.”

“You ain’t thinkin’ of goin’ into Atlanta?”

“They lived just outside of the city.  It might still be ok.”

“What are the chances he’s gonna be there, Ty?” 

“Not good,” Tyreese admitted.  “But I have to see for myself.  He’s my family, Daryl.  I helped your family get back together.  Now I need to go see if I can find what’s left of mine.”

“You takin’ supplies?”

“Just what I need for a few days.  I’ll find more while I’m gone.  I’ll bring them back.”  He looked to Daryl, holding his hand out.  “I’m coming back.”  Daryl reached out to shake Tyreese’s hand. 

“You got ammo?”

“A box in the car,” Tyreese offered.  “Half a dozen bottles of water, some food.  Not much.  I didn’t want to take more than half my share.”

“Alright.  You take the cruiser, leave us the walkie.”

“Will do,” Tyreese promised.   

“I owe you for savin’ my life.  I should come.”

“You owe your wife.  She wasn’t gonna stop ‘til she got to you.  This is _my_ call.  My trip.  I don’t want to put anybody at risk.  This isn’t a run.”

“It’s a rescue mission,” Daryl pointed out.  “You had my back out there in that riot.  If you hadn’t been there, I might be dead now.  I ain’t gonna forget that.” 

“You and Carol let me stay, share in the supplies.  I got a roof over my head and food in my stomach.  I’d say that makes us even.”  The men shook hands again, and Tyreese glanced toward the house.  In the last couple of weeks, he’d come to think of this group as family.  Now he had to leave for a while, but if luck was on his side, he’d be coming back soon.

*~*~*~*

“So, he just left?” Carol asked, glancing down at the map in her lap as Daryl drove Hershel’s truck down the old, dirt road.

“He didn’t wanna make a scene,” Daryl muttered, turning onto a slightly better road. 

“So he just takes off like that?  I mean, he could get hurt out there.  Hurt _again_.”

“Tyreese is tough.  He’ll be alright.   Hell, he helped carry me outta that hospital, bad arm and all.” 

“We should have gone with him.  One of us at least.  We owe him that much.  He helped me find you.”

“He wanted it this way.  I offered to go.”  Carol glanced at him.  “Not that I wanted to leave you and Soph, but I had to offer.”

“Turn here,” Carol instructed, as they pulled onto a highway.  Cars lined the sides of the roads, making driving possible but precarious.  Carol flinched as Daryl narrowly avoided sideswiping an old Buick.  “This one runs right through the center of town.  We should be able to find something.”  She folded the map back up and tucked up between the roof of the car and the sun visor. 

She closed her eyes and put her hand over her stomach, feeling a little queasy from the motion of the truck.

“You ok?” Daryl asked, bringing his hand over hers.  She smiled when she felt the cool band of his wedding ring against her skin. 

“Yeah.  Just a little queasy.  It’s nothing.”

“’Cause of the baby?”

“Yeah.”  She smiled a little and then chuckled.  “Remember when I was pregnancy with Sophia?  What I always wanted when I got hungry and felt sick?”  Daryl thought for a moment, and slowly, a smile spread over his face and a laugh fell from his lips.

“I remember I couldn’t be in the same room when ya ate it.”

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“Pickles and ice cream.”

“It wasn’t bad!” she insisted.  “I actually liked it.”

“Pickles I get.  Ice cream I get.  Not together.”

“Well, I’m not craving it _now_ ,” she snorted. 

“What’re you cravin’?”

“Nothing.”  He knew that tone of voice.

“C’mon.  Tell me.”

“It doesn’t matter.  We probably won’t find any.   The stores are probably looted.”

“Just tell me.  I’ll get it. Whatever you want.”

“Don’t keep promises you can’t keep, Daryl.”

“Just tell me, woman.” 

“Oh, going caveman now?” she laughed.  Finally, she gave in.  “Graham crackers with peanut butter and honey.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.  But come on.  You have to admit the last grocery store was pretty wiped out.  You really think you can find all three of those?”

“Just watch me,” he replied with a smirk, as the first signs of a town came into view. 

“Oh, okay, you’re gonna be cocky now?”

“I’m gonna get you that stuff, and you’re gonna have your snack.”

“Alright. The baby’s gonna be disappointed if you don’t, Mr. Confident.”

“You’re usin’ the baby already?  That’s a new low,” he teased.

“You’re the one using the baby as an excuse for me not to come out here.”  Well, she had him there. 

“Alright.   Just tryin’ to keep my wife and kid safe, but…”

“Oh, pouty,” she groaned, rolling her eyes before leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek.  “I love you.”

“Love you more,” he muttered, peeking at her out of the corner of his eyes before quickly turning his head and catching her with a quick kiss on the lips.  She laughed then, and for a moment, it felt like the way things used to be before everything went to shit.  But then, the burnt out homes came into sight and the glass on the sidewalks from the busted out storefronts glistened in the sunlight, and reality settled back in.  “I just worry ‘bout ya.”

“I know.  But you don’t have to.  I…”

“You can take care of yourself.  I know.  Still don’t mean I won’t worry, and I can’t promise I won’t ask ya to stay behind again.  I just want ya safe.”

“I know.  Thank you,” she whispered, taking his hand in hers and leaning her head against his shoulder.  They continued on in a focused silence, scouting out the town to see what could be salvaged.  First on the stop?  A big box retail store with a grocery department. Jackpot.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

“You did _not!_ ” Carol squealed, pulling her arms around her husband’s neck and kissing him lovingly. 

“Told you I’d find ‘em,” Daryl replied with a smirk.  He’d started at one end of the grocery section, and she’d started at the other, and he’d produced not one but three boxes of graham crackers, two big jars of peanut butter and about a dozen bottles of honey.

“You’re the best.  God, I might have to crack these open before we get home.”

“Got these, too.”  He pulled a jar of dill pickles out from behind his back.  “Just in case.  Sorry ‘bout the ice cream, though.”  The dairy section was a sour mess that they avoided.

“What else did you find?” Carol asked, peeking into his cart in the dim light the skylights provided. 

“Better luck this time,” Daryl muttered.  He’d found about ten cans of tuna, a flat of a dozen cans of cream of mushroom soup, a few cans of beef in gravy and a few boxes of pasta.

“Oh, I can do a lot with these,” Carol beamed.  “Plus with what we’ll hopefully get from the garden, we should have a lot to work with.”

“Yeah.  What’d you find?”

“Sophia’s favorite cereal,” Carol offered, nodding to the six boxes of sugary, chocolaty cereal with a cartoon dog on the front.  There were four big bags of flour, a bag of sugar, and a huge box of baking soda.  Carol had always walked by those giant-sized boxes wondering who on earth would ever need that much of one thing at once.  Now, it seemed like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  She could make that last for a good six months or so.  “Oh, and I thought you might thank me for these.”  She held up a package of Daryl’s favorite cookies.

“Shit, you remembered?”

“You only snuck those in the cart ever chance you got,” Carol snorted.  “There’s very little I don’t know about you.”  She batted her eyelashes at him, and he scoffed. But, she was right.  There wasn’t much they didn’t know about one another anymore after fifteen years of marriage. 

“Where to next?” Daryl asked, as they pushed their carts alongside one another down the aisle.  It was eerie, honestly, walking the scuffed floors that people used to walk on a daily basis.

“Check out the pharmacy section.  We need condoms.”   The words fell off her lips so casually that it nearly had him tripping over the wheels of his cart.  Carol glanced at him.  “Obviously not for us.  A little too late for that.  Glenn and Maggie are adults, and if they’re going to act like it, I’d rather they stay safe.”

“Hell, I didn’t need to know that,” Daryl groaned.

“She’s not a little girl anymore.  She’s twenty-two and she’s in love.  You remember when we were young like that.”

“Vaguely.  Seems like those memories are in black and white.”

“Oh, shush.”  Carol playfully slapped his arm.  “It wasn’t _that_ long ago.”  She put her hand against her lower back.  “Though today, I’m feeling it.”  He gently curled his fingers around her upper arm, rubbing his thumb tenderly back and forth there.

“You ok?”

“Yeah.  I know they say pregnancy is different each time.  It’s been ten years since I had a baby.  I’m not as young as I was before.”  There, in the dim light of the store, Daryl saw the doubt and fear creep into her eyes again.

“You’re gonna be just fine.”

“I was terrified before the world went to hell, Daryl.  This could…I need you to be prepared, because this could be bad.”

“Don’t talk like that.”  She watched his jaw tense up.  She saw the fear in his eyes, and she immediately felt guilty for putting it there.  Still, she wasn’t as young as she was when she had Sophia, and there was a very real possibility that there could be complications.  She was considered high risk at her age alone.  To complicate matters worse, she was the only doctor in their little group of survivors, and unless somebody came along that knew what the hell they were doing, Daryl might end up having to get a crash course on delivering babies.  She sure as hell wasn’t going to pop a squat in the cornfield and do it on her own. “Women have been havin’ babies since the beginnin’ of time.” 

 _Women used to die in childbirth regularly before modern medicine_ , she thought, but she refused to utter the words aloud. 

“You’re right,” she offered instead, as they passed by the infant section.  Carol paused for a moment and glanced at Daryl.  “Hold on.”  She moved a few aisles over and came back with a few cans of formula in her cat as well as boxes of diapers of various sizes.  She held up a can of formula.  “This is what Sophia drank as a baby.  I’m not sure if this baby will be the same.  I’ll try nursing first, but if something happens…”

“Nothin’s gonna happen.”

“Daryl.”

“It ain’t.  Baby’s gonna be fine.  You’re gonna be fine.  We made it this far ain’t we?”  Carol knew that as much as he wanted to believe that, he was just as scared as she was.  He just wanted to be strong for her.  They’d done this before.  She’d been terrified of childbirth, and he’d been there, promising to hold her hand the entire time.  In reality, he’d ended up having to sit down and had a bedpan between his knees just in case he threw up.  He’d been an emotional wreck that day, and still, it was one of the happiest days of both of their lives.  Carol was thankful to have him as her partner through everything.  “We need this.”  He grabbed something off of a shelf.

“Do you know what that is?” she snorted.

“No, but it looks important.”

“It’s a replacement part for a breast pump.”

“See?  Important,” Daryl said with a shrug, tossing it into the cart.  Carol sighed and shook her head.

“Where are we gonna put all this stuff?”

“Barn?”

“And when everybody asks us why we have all this?”

“Gotta be prepared for everything,” Daryl insisted.  “’Sides, we can store it in totes with everything else.  Ain’t nobody gonna go rummaging through that for a while.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmm?  What?” Daryl asked.

“We’ll store the formula in our room.  I don’t want our baby’s replacement food to sit out in the barn all summer and winter.”

“Alright,” Daryl agreed.  “Look.  C’mon, this is cute.”  He held up a onesie, and Carol raised an eyebrow.  It was a camo onesie with a bow and arrow on it that said “Cupid’s Redneck Cousin.”

“No.”

“What?  See, they got it for a girl, too.”  He held up a pink camo onesie, and Carol sighed, grabbing a pack of receiving blankets and a several baby clothes ranging from newborn to toddler in boy and girl styles.

“No.”  Daryl smirked then, and he grabbed some packages of socks and a teddy bear. 

“Baby’s gotta have a teddy bear.”

“You’re sweet,” Carol smiled.  “I have to admit, I’m anxious to see you with this one.  Sophia had you wrapped around her little finger since birth.”  She chewed her bottom lip.  “You want a little boy?”

“I’ll be happy either way.  So long as you and the baby are healthy, I’m happy.”

“Yeah, but you have to admit, you’re pretty much surrounded by girls and have been for a long time.  First Maggie and Beth.  Then Sophia.”

“Hell, bein’ my luck, a boy’d turn out just like Merle.”  She saw the smirk fade, and then he looked down.  He didn’t mention Merle much, but she knew he had to be on his mind.  Was he out there?  Was he even alive?  Where the hell was he, anyway?  It had been a long time since they’d heard from him.  The last birthday card he’d sent Sophia hadn’t had a return address, so they didn’t even have the first clue where to begin to even think about looking for him.

“Hey,” she murmured, gently curling her fingers around his.  “I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

“Come on.  Let’s grab some more stuff and head home.” 

*~*~*~*

They’d found the sporting goods section to be pretty much picked from, though Daryl had found some arrows for his crossbow.  On the way home, they’d come across a gun shop that had been looted, though Daryl had found a small crawl space in the back with some merchandise that hadn’t even been touched.  He found six hand guns, three rifles and enough ammo to last them a good long while.  It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough, and he hoped they’d never have to use it.  Still, the world was a drastically different place than it had been a few weeks ago, and they needed to be prepared for anything.

By the time they got home, Maggie and Beth were setting the table for supper.  Carol had quickly snuck the baby supplies up the back stairs, with a curious Sophia watching her head up and down the stairs with multiple bags.  Still, Glenn kept Sophia busy with helping make fresh squeezed lemonade, and by the time Carol and Daryl had finished bringing in and putting up the supplies, everything was ready.

“What do you miss most?” Beth asked, taking a bite of stew and glancing at Maggie.

“Things or people?  Of both, I have a list,” Maggie murmured.  Beth’s eyes clouded over for a moment, and she gave a weak smile.

“Things,” she insisted, wanting to keep the conversation light. 

“Soft serve ice cream,” Maggie said immediately.  “And pizza from that little hole in the wall place Daddy took us to once a month.”

“Oh, yeah,” Beth groaned.  “That was the best.  I miss my cell phone.  Watching movies.”  She frowned.  What electricity they did get from the generators was strictly not to be used for entertainment.  Only for cooking.  They ate by candle light and used oil lamps in every room.

“The drive-in,” Maggie sighed, gaze drifting to Glenn who blushed. 

“They still have a drive in around here?” Carol asked.  “I though they tore that down years ago.”

“They did.  They had one a few miles from campus,” Maggie recalled.  “It was mostly college kids that went.  They played old movies, but nobody really went to watch them.”  She grinned at Glenn whose face was a deeper shade of red now.

“What about you, Glenn?” Carol asked, as she took a sip of lemonade. 

“My computer,” he sighed.  “Computers in general.  I could fix them.  I knew what made them work and what to do if they weren’t working.  It’s funny that several entire fields of education revolved around technology that is officially obsolete now.  I feel like a fish out of water to be honest.  But, at least I’m becoming a pretty good shot.”

“Well, there’s that,” Carol replied with a sad smile.  “You’re smart.  You think on your feet.  I’ve noticed you helping around the farm.  You kind of evolve to meet the needs of any situation.  That’s good.  It’s good to be resilient.” 

“What about you, Mom?” Sophia asked.

“Oh,” Carol sighed.  “Don’t get me started.”  She smiled a little.  “I miss the business of the hospital.  I know it was stressful, and sometimes I felt like it was driving me crazy, but I miss working with people like that, I miss working on cases and helping people.  And donuts.  I miss the donuts from the corner shop on Bleeker.”

“Yeah, those were the best,” Daryl agreed, taking a bite of a made-from-scratch dinner roll.  Everybody glanced at him.  “Yeah, yuk it up.  The cop likes donuts.”  Everyone laughed then, and Carol nudged Daryl under the table.

“What about you?  What do you miss?  Besides your hunting trips and your electric razor?” Carol prodded.

“Think the thing I miss the most is the house.  Loved that house.  I mean, we kinda grew up together in that house.  Got married so young, but we built our family there.”  He saw Carol’s lower lip tremble, and he cleared his throat.  “I was proud’a that place.”

“Me too,” Carol admitted.

“My turn?” Sophia asked. 

“Yep.  Your turn, Soph,” Daryl muttered, as Carol reached under the table and squeezed his hand. 

“I miss my roller blades.  And my doll house.”

“Doll house?” Beth asked.  “We have a dollhouse.”

“You do?”  Sophia’s eyes went wide. 

“Yeah, it was Maggie’s, and then it was mine.  It’s up in the attic now.  It’s big, and it looks just like this place.  You can play with it if you want, but you’ll have to bring it down.”    Sophia looked to Carol and then to Daryl.

“Can we, please?  Daddy, can you bring it down?”

“Sure, Soph.”  Sophia started to get up, and Daryl chuckled.  “After dinner.  Gotta eat first.”

“Oh,” Sophia sighed.  “Ok.  But then can we go get it?”

“We’ll get it,” he promised. 

“Thanks, Daddy.”  She hurried over and gave him a big hug around the neck, and Carol absently put her hand against her stomach, feeling the worries melting away as she watched her first born and her husband and remembered how damned lucky she was to have them.  For all the hell they’d been through, they still had one another, and tonight, she felt like maybe everything was going to be ok.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 

_“Oh God.  No, I’m not wearing this!”  Carol groaned and tossed the low-cut top behind her.  Daryl poked his head out of the bathroom with his toothbrush poking out from between his lips._

_“What’s wrong?”_

_“These!”  She put her hands over her bra-covered boobs and groaned.  Daryl raised an eyebrow and took in his wife’s appearance.  There she was, fresh-faced with her hair pulled back and her bra and panties matching like she always made sure they were in the early days of their relationship, back when breath mints were a necessity before kissing and when Carol would lock herself in the bathroom and shave her legs if she even thought sex was in the cards._

_“You look good,” Daryl offered with a shrug.  “I mean, you always look good, but…what’s the occasion?”  He nodded to her lacy black bra and panties.  Carol looked down and her shoulders fell._

_“I wanted to look good for you.  I feel ugly and fat, and I just wanted to…”  Her voice broke, and Daryl quickly ducked back into the bathroom, spat out his toothpaste, rinsed, wiped his mouth and made a beeline back to his pregnant wife._

_“Baby, you always look good to me.”_

_“No,” she sniffled, slumping down on the edge of the bed.  “And these are huge.  I’m not going out in public like this!”  She gestured toward her breasts, and Daryl couldn’t help but smirk.  “It’s not funny, Daryl Dixon!”_

_“I ain’t…shit, I ain’t sayin’ it’s funny.  M’just sayin’ you’re beautiful.  And I don’t…I mean…”  Carol gaped at him._

_“You like them.”_

_“What…I…”_

_“You like them like this?”_

_“I…is there anything I can say to not make ya mad right now?” Daryl asked, crouching down on the floor, resting his hands on her thighs.  “I don’t have a problem with ‘em.”_

_“I just wanted…” She sniffled, and she sighed, shoulders slumping again.  “We’ve gotten old.”_

_“What?”  A laugh fell from Daryl’s lips, and Carol frowned at him.  “We’re thirty-five, babe.  We ain’t old.”_

_“That’s not what I mean.  When we first got together, we were hot and heavy, and it was just…”_

_“You sayin’ what we did last night wasn’t hot and heavy?”_

_“I’m saying it’s gotten routine.  I mean, I come home from work, take my bra off and lounge around in sweat pants.  Sometimes I don’t even shave my legs.  And you don’t go to the gym every day like you used to.”_

_“You callin’ me fat?”_

_“No,” she laughed, as Daryl grinned up at her.  “But we don’t go all out anymore.”_

_“You want me to…I mean, I ain’t sure what you want from me, Carol.”_

_“I…I don’t know,” she admitted.  “I love you, and you make me happy, and I just don’t want you to get bored with me.  And now I’m getting fat, and my boobs feel like they’re three times what they should be, and I just don’t want you to be disappointed when they aren’t like that anymore.”  Her voice broke, and Daryl realized exactly what was happening._

_“I don’t care if ya gain three hundred pounds.  I don’t care if ya never shave again and start braidin’ your damn armpit hair.”  Carol laughed at that then and wiped at her tears.  “You ain’t fat.  You’re pregnant.  And I like that ya come home and get comfortable, because I know ya work hard.  We both do.  What’d we both promise each other when we got married?”  He eyed her.  “Hmm?”_

_“That we’d come home to each other every night, no matter what, even if one or both of us was mad.”_

_“That’s right.  And to be honest, sometimes ya don’t shave, and it feels like I’m havin’ sex with a cactus, but…”_

_“Shut up, you ass!” she laughed._

_“Just kiddin’,’ he snorted.  “Just sayin’, I don’t care if ya don’t shave for me.  Shit, I barely have the patience to shave my face.  I ain’t gonna judge ya.   I love ya no matter what.”_

_“I’m such a mess,” she snorted, drying the rest of her tears._

_“You’re havin’ my baby.”  He put his hand against her belly.  “I’d be a mess too if I knew I was givin’ birth to a Dixon.”  Carol laughed then, and she pulled her arms around his neck, kissing him softly._

_“Thank you.  I don’t know where that came from.”  He kissed her forehead then, and he helped her up off the floor._

_“C’mon.  Let’s get dressed and get outta here for a while, so I can bring ya back here and show ya just how much I want ya after all these years.”   Carol’s eyes widened, and then a smile spread over her face.  “That ok with you?”_

_“Maybe we can skip the going out part.”  Her arms curled around his neck, and Daryl chuckled.  “What do you think?”_

_“I think I like that idea a hell of a lot better,” he murmured, picking her up in his arms and carrying her over to the bed, chuckling as she laughed against his lips._

_*~*~*~*~*_

“Oh God,” Carol moaned, standing up on wobbly legs and leaning against the tree she’d just thrown up under.  Daryl hadn’t been far away, and when he’d watched his wife double over, he’d started running from the other side of the farm.

“What happened?” he asked, panting as he made his way over to her.  “You hurt?  Is it the baby?”

“I’m ok.  Breakfast didn’t agree with me.  That’s all,” she promised, placing her hand on his shoulder to steady herself.  She stuck her other hand into her pocket and pulled out a small, red and white striped peppermint candy.  She unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth.  Those had been the only things helping her nausea, and Daryl had grabbed three bags of them on his last run with Glenn. 

“We’re gonna have to tell people soon,” Daryl muttered, placing his hand against Carol’s belly.  She looked down and sighed.  She was showing sooner than she had with Sophia.  She had hoped she’d be able to hide this pregnancy for a while, at least until she was out of her first trimester, but she knew she was around ten weeks judging by her appointment with Dr. Prescott before everything went crazy.

“I know,” she muttered.  “I’m not ready yet.”  She put her hand over his.  “I could still lose this baby, Daryl.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“We have to be prepared for anything,” Carol insisted.  “I’m already high risk, and taking prenatal vitamins isn’t going to make everything ok if it didn’t start out ok.”   She saw the worry crease his brow, and she hated that she’d put that there, but she also knew that they both needed to be realistic about what was happening.  She tried not to think about it.  She didn’t want to get too attached, but walking into their room and seeing the hidden boxes of baby items in the closet didn’t help with that.

Her body was changing.  She’d been dressing that morning, and she’d caught Daryl staring like he hadn’t seen her naked every day for the last decade and a half.  She’d looked at herself in the mirror to see the way her belly was starting to grow rounder, the way her breasts were fuller and felt heavier.  And she’d been so exhausted. 

She’d been helping Maggie and Beth in the garden, while Daryl and Glenn had done repairs around the farm, mending fences and pulling water from the wells.  Sophia spent a lot of time reading and doing homework from her old school books.  Despite the fact that the world seemed to have stopped around them, Carol and Daryl didn’t want their daughter to stop learning and growing.  So, when she wasn’t playing with her dollhouse, she was reading and doing math figures and helping with simple tasks around the farm.

Tyreese hadn’t come back yet.  They hadn’t heard from him, and they’d tried to contact him a few times on the walkie with no answer.  They tried not to think about it, but his absence was noticeable, especially when they went on runs and needed extra help with hauling supplies.

They hadn’t run into another human being.  The nights were silent.  There were no longer any explosions or rumbles coming from the city.  There were no planes in the night sky.  No helicopters.  It was as if the world had died around them, and all they could do was keep planting and tending the garden and working the farm, trying to live some kind of normal life while everything else rotted around them.

“You feelin’ ok, though?” Daryl asked, as he took her hand and they walked back toward the house.

“Yeah.  Mostly,” she offered.  “I’m tired.  I feel bad, because Sophia will ask me to do something with her or to read with her, and I just have no energy.  This kid’s already zapping it out of me.” 

“You were like that with Soph too.”

“Yeah, but I was younger then.”

“Stop talkin’ like that.”  His voice was low and even, undemanding but filled with worry. 

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.  “I just don’t want…I’m afraid of what could happen.”  She felt his hand tighten around hers.

“Nothin’ is gonna happen.”

“Will you promise me that if it does, you’ll make sure that Sophia…”

“Stop,” he insisted.

“Daryl!” she snapped.  He stopped and turned to look at her.  “I’m serious here.  We don’t know what’s out there.  We don’t know what’s coming or if this is it.  Something _could_ happen.  Women have been having babies since the beginning of time, but women have been having complications in childbirth since the beginning of time, too.  We have to be realistic here.  If something happens, I need to make sure that you and Sophia will be alright.”

“I ain’t losin’ you,” Daryl insisted.  “I can’t.”

“It’s gonna happen someday, Daryl.  One of us is going to have to live without the other.  I don’t want to think about it anymore than you do, but it’s reality.  If something happens with this pregnancy, you and Sophia have to keep going.”  Daryl took both of her hands in his then, and he nodded, head falling as he looked down.  “She needs to know how to take care of herself.”  Daryl looked back up at her.  “You know how I’ve felt about teaching her to shoot.  I’ve always been dead set against it.  But we both saw a lot of terrible things when everything fell apart.  If people like that are still out there, I need to know Sophia will know how to keep herself safe.”

“You want me to show her?”

“I don’t want her to be afraid.  She’s so young, Daryl, and I wish I could say we were both going to be around to keep her safe, but what happens when we’re both gone?”   She shook her head.  “That being said, Beth could use some training.  Maggie, too.”

“Alright,” Daryl agreed.  “I’ll get Glenn, and we’ll take them out to the meadow.”

“Thank you,” she said quietly, bringing her arms around his neck to hug him.  His hands were gentle against her back, and he pulled back to look into his eyes.  “I never wanted Sophia to know a life like this.”

“Me neither,” he murmured.  “Always thought I’d be buyin’ her a car for her sixteenth birthday.  Drivin’ her across the country to college.  Givin’ her away at her weddin’.”

“Maybe she’ll still have those things,” Carol offered.  “Maybe things will go back to how they were.”  She knew it was a lie, but it was a lie she could live with, because without hope, what was there?

“We got each other.  Whatever happens, that ain’t gonna change.”  He brushed a soft kiss to her forehead, and Carol nodded, tucking her fingers into the belt loops on his pants. 

“It’s always been that way.  You’re right,” she whispered.  “It’s gonna be ok.”  She hugged him once more before the headed up toward the house, hand-in-hand.

*~*~*~*~*

Daryl let the hood of Hershel’s truck slam shut with a resounding metal _thunk_ when he saw Glenn step into the barn.

“Hey,” Glenn offered with a little nod.

“Hey,” Daryl muttered.  “Carol find you?”

“Yeah.  She said you wanted my help with teaching Sophia to shoot?”

“Beth and Maggie need the practice, too,” Daryl offered. 

“Alright,” Glenn offered.  “Any reason why?  It’s not like we’ve seen, well, anybody around.”

“Carol’d feel better if Sophia knew how to protect herself.  So would I.  And the girls?  Well, I don’t know how much shit you saw when everything went down, but I wouldn’t want anybody stuck in the middle of that without knowin’ how to keep safe.”  Glenn swallowed the lump in his throat, and he nodded to Daryl.

“Ok.  I’m in.  When do we do this?”

“Tomorrow.  We need to inventory the ammo, see what we got to spare.”

“Ok,” Glenn nodded.  “I can do that.”  He removed the red baseball cap off of his head and ran his fingers through his sweat-slicked hair.  “Uh, Daryl?”

“Yeah.”

“You’ve been with Carol a long time, right?”

“Yeah,” Daryl grunted, wiping his oily hands off on a red bandana before sticking it in his back pocket.  “Been married fifteen years.”

“So you, I mean, you know her.”

“Yeah,” Daryl said, eyeing the young man.  “What, you thinkin’ about you and Maggie?”

“Yeah.  I mean, no.  I mean…look, we got pretty serious before everything went down,” Glenn offered, raising his eyebrows.  “She was afraid to tell her dad, because she knew that if he didn’t approve, well, it would change things.  But we were pretty serious.  I mean, we had a couple scares.” Daryl winced.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to have this chat with Glenn.  He’d watched Maggie grow up from a little girl to the young woman she was now, and he didn’t entirely feel comfortable talking about this, but Glenn looked so helpless.

“Scares?”

“She thought she was pregnant.”  He cleared his throat.  “We were careful, and the test was negative, but it freaked us both out.  That was a few months ago, but…”  He cleared his throat.  “She’s acting kind of funny.” Daryl felt like a brick of led had hit him in the stomach.  He really wasn’t ready for this.

“Funny how?”

“She’s sleeping a lot.  I mean, I couldn’t even wake her this morning.  I thought she was sick.  Then she acted pissed at me, and I don’t even know what I did.”

“You ain’t newlyweds no more,” Daryl snorted.

“What?” Glenn asked.

“I mean, you been together long enough now that you ain’t walkin’ on eggshells with each other.  She shave her legs last night.”  He cringed then.  He knew he shouldn’t have asked that, but at the same time, he was amused at the confused look on Glenn’s face.

“Huh?” Glenn asked.  “What’s that got to…”  He watched as Daryl smirked and leaned against the wide of Hershel’s truck.  “No.  But…”

“She’s comfortable.  She loves ya.  You make her feel like things ain’t so damned bad.”

“Well, yeah,” he offered, rubbing the back of his neck as his face grew red.  “I try to keep her happy.  We’ve…distracted each other a lot.”  He watched Daryl shake his head as he pulled open the door and hopped up into the truck.  “But we’re good.  I mean, yeah.  Yeah.  We’re good.”

“Then what’re you worried about?” Daryl asked.

“She’s late.  I mean…I think.  She thinks.  She was freaking out.  I’ve been wearing condoms, and… _I’m_ freaking out.”  _Oh, hell._

“Shit,” Daryl muttered, running his hand over his stubble-covered chin.  “She take a test?”

“Well, no.  I mean, she’s scared shitless, dude.  So am I.  What the hell are we gonna do with a baby?  Especially now?”  Daryl heard the screen door slam shut as Carol came out onto the porch of the house with a basket of laundry.  He watched the way she put her hand on her belly when no one was looking, and he looked back at this young man who was terrified of the possibility of bringing new life into the world with someone, and he was thankful that he hadn’t become a father until he knew exactly what he wanted in life.  Still, nothing could have prepared him for life with a child.  He couldn’t imagine what was going through Glenn’s head at that moment.

“Look, don’t piss yourself ‘til there’s a reason,” Daryl muttered, firing up the engine.  “Check the medicine cabinet.  Ask her to take a test.  Then you’ll know.”  He put the truck in reverse, and he saw the uncertainty in the younger man’s eyes.  “For what it’s worth, ain’t nothin’ gonna prepare you for a baby.  If she’s pregnant, don’t be a dick.  Just be there for her, ‘cause I guarantee she’s gonna be more scared than you know.  I’ve known Maggie since she was a little kid in pigtails.  You hurt her, and I’m gonna hurt you.”  Glenn swallowed hard and nodded then.  Daryl gave him a little nod before backing the truck out of the barn and parking it under the willow tree.

He turned to glance toward the barn, where Glenn stood looking a little ill as he leaned against the barn door.  He looked back to the house where Carol was hanging laundry up on the lines they’d strung up, and he headed that way.

“You alright?” he asked, kissing the back of her neck as he wrapped his arms around her. 

“Much better,” she promised.  His hands moved up her arms, and she swatted them away.  “Hey, you’re gonna get these sheets all oily.  Go wash up.”

“You gonna come join me?” he teased.

“This laundry won’t hang itself,” she said sternly before turning to wink at him.  “But I’ll be up to join you when I’m done.  Promise.”  She kissed him softly then, and Daryl gently nudged her nose with his own.

“You better, woman.”  She smacked his behind as he started into the house, and he smirked, hearing her laughing softly as he headed into the house and up the stairs to the bathroom.  He nearly smacked into Maggie as she headed out, her eyes wide, face pale, lower lip trembling.  “You alright?”

“Huh?”

“You ok, Maggie?”

“Yeah.  Yeah, I’m fine,” she offered, forcing a smile.  She ducked past him and started for the stairs, but he heard her stop and turn on the first step.  “Daryl?”

“Yeah?” he turned to look at her.

“Things are gonna get better, right?  I mean, they have to.  Things are gonna be good again, aren’t they?”

“I hope so,” Daryl offered, watching Maggie’s eyes glass over.  “Can’t hurt to hope, but we gotta do what we have to to get through today first.”

“Right,” Maggie said quietly.  “Thanks.”  She sniffled then, turned on her heel and headed down the stairs, leaving Daryl alone with his thoughts as he drew a bath.  Thankfully, Carol joined him a few minutes later, and he lost himself in her, distracting himself from everything and focusing on her and how thankful he was to have her as his wife.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

_“Trick or treat!”  Maggie giggled, jumping down excitedly as Carol opened the door wearing her Rapunzel costume, complete with a long, braided wig that hung down to her feet._

_“Oh, my, what a beautiful….um….spider?”_

_“Carol, no!” Maggie laughed._

_“Oh, that’s right.  You’re a…bumblebee!  The prettiest bumblebee I ever saw!”_

_“No!” Maggie laughed, as Daryl stepped up behind Carol wearing his Zorro costume, complete with the hat and mask.  “Daryl, tell Carol what I am!”_

_“Um,” Daryl thought, narrowing his eyes and kneeling down to inspect Maggie’s costume.  “Let me see.  Oh, you’re a lightning bug!”_

_“No!” Maggie laughed, as Hershel came up behind her carrying little Beth who was dressed as a cat for her very first Halloween.  Beth screeched at the sight of Princess Carol and waved her chubby little hands.  Carol laughed, taking the baby in her arms and covering her face with kisses._

_“Careful, you’re gonna smudge her makeup,” Maggie warned._

_“Oh, that’s ok.  She’s just the cutest little kitty I’ve ever seen,” Carol chuckled.  Beth squealed, and Maggie put her hands on her hips.  “Maggie Greene, you’re the prettiest ladybug I’ve ever seen.”  Maggie giggled and held out her jack-o-lantern pail.  Daryl grabbed a handful of candy and dumped it in the bucket._

_“Thanks, Daryl!”_

_“Daryl forgets we’ve got two more hours of trick-or-treaters to take care of,” Carol warned, raising her eyebrow at him._

_“But she’s a ladybug,” Daryl pointed out, shrugging his shoulders._

_“Push over,” Carol laughed, handing the baby to him and stepping aside so Hershel and Maggie could come in.  “We have apple cider and cupcakes.”  Maggie bounced up and down excitedly, and Hershel chuckled, shaking his head._

_“We can’t stay long,” Hershel insisted.  “We’ve got another neighborhood to hit, and then the hayride at the high school.”_

_“Come on, sweetheart, let’s go into the kitchen.  You want a cupcake, Miss Kitty?”  Beth giggled and clapped her hands, and Carol chuckled, carrying her and leading Maggie into the kitchen.  Daryl took off his mask and hat and set them aside._

_“You know,” Hershel chuckled, “I was a much younger man when Maggie had her first Halloween.”_

_“Yeah, but Beth’s a pretty good baby.  Can’t be that rough,” Daryl pointed out.  Hershel gave him a look._

_“You’ll understand when you’re a father someday.”  He saw the little smile quirk up in the corner of Daryl’s mouth, and when Daryl looked away, he suddenly felt a pang of guilt.  “No luck yet?”_

_“We’re still hopin’ by Christmas.”_

_“Give it time, son.  You two just got married.  Sometimes these things just take time.”_

_“Yeah, but you ain’t seen the look in her eyes every time she takes a test and it’s negative.”  Daryl rubbed the back of his neck._

_“The way I see it,” Hershel said quietly, putting his hand on Daryl’s shoulder, “God hasn’t given you a baby yet, because he’s waiting on the right baby for both of you.  Trust me.  When you hold that baby in your arms for the first time, you’re gonna realize it was worth the wait.”  Daryl nodded then.  “Until then, just enjoy one another, enjoy the quiet and the privacy, because once that baby does come along, nothing will ever be the same again.”  Daryl chuckled, as Carol walked back into the room with Beth on her hip.  The little girl’s face was now covered with makeup and green cupcake icing._

_“Yeah,” Daryl murmured, as he watched the smile light up Carol’s face as she played with the girls.  “I can’t wait.”_

_*~*~*~*~*_

Glenn and Sophia were on cleanup duty after supper, and Carol couldn’t help but notice Daryl had been distracted for most of the afternoon, save for their few moments of privacy in the bathroom earlier.  So, when they retreated upstairs to bed that night, Carol crawled across the mattress and wrapped her arms around him as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“You ok?” she asked, kissing his neck and then his ear. 

“Hmm?  Yeah.  Yeah, I’m ok,” he murmured, gently curling his fingers with hers against his chest. 

“You thinking about the baby?”

“Some,” he admitted.  “Thinkin’ about a lot.”  He turned his face toward hers and gave her a quick peck on the lips.  “You notice Maggie actin’ funny this afternoon?”

“Maggie?” Carol asked.

“Yeah.  Think somethin’ is goin’ on between her and Glenn.”

“Well, we _know_ that,” Carol chuckled, kissing his shoulder.  “What makes you say that, though?”

“Glenn came up to me when I was workin’ on the truck.  He, uh…”

“What?”

“He thinks Maggie might be pregnant?”  Carol stilled behind him and then rested her chin on his shoulder.

“Oh my God, that explains a lot,” Carol muttered.

“What?”

“Maggie came up to me yesterday and asked me all kinds of questions.  I mean, here I thought she was just worried she was maybe getting the virus.  God, I’ve been so caught up in my own head that I didn’t…”  She shook her head.  “She needs to take a test.”

“That’s what I told him.  And don’t let on like ya know, ‘cause I’m guessin’ Maggie probably didn’t want him comin’ to me about it.”

“God,” Carol whispered.  “She must be terrified.”  She sniffled.  “I’m terrified, and I’ve done this before.  Well, not like this, but at least I have an idea of what to expect.  She’s just…oh…”  She shook her head.  “Glenn’s gotta be scared.”

“Yeah, I think he’s afraid of me now.”

“What?”

“I…sorta told him if he hurt Maggie, I’d hurt him.”

“You did not,” Carol groaned.  She shook her head and gave him a squeeze from behind.

“Hell, I remember drivin’ her to the dentist to get her damned braces tightened.  She’s just a kid.”

“She’s twenty-two,” Carol pointed out.  “She’s all grown up.”

“A baby,” Daryl muttered, shaking his head.  “What were they thinkin’?”

“Well, what were _we_ thinking?” Carol snorted.  “These things happen sometimes.  Sometimes when you least expect them.”  She kissed his shoulder again and then came around to sit next to him on the bed.  “I won’t say anything.  I have a feeling she’ll be coming to me soon.  I’m the one she came to when she wanted to know about boys, about her period.  About sex.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Who do you think she talked to?  Hershel?  She didn’t want to ask her step mother.”  Carol shook her head.  “I’ll keep an eye on her.”  She kissed his shoulder.  Daryl ran his fingers through his hair, and Carol gently tugged on his arm.  “Come on.  Come to bed.”  She scooted back onto the mattress, lying down on her side, patting her hand against his side of the bed.  Daryl peeked over his shoulder at her, caught the little smile at the corner of her mouth, and he followed, scooting in next to her, rolling to his side, bringing his hand over her hip, kissing her softly as their feet tangled together.  She smiled against his mouth, and he kissed her forehead. 

“So damn quiet out here,” he murmured, as a breeze fluttered through the open window. 

“It’s quiet everywhere,” Carol offered, kissing the tip of his nose.  Daryl’s hand moved between them, gently stroking her belly, and she bit her lip, unable to hide her smile. 

“Gonna do everything I can to keep you safe, you know that?”

“You talking to me or the baby?”

“Both of ya,” he promised.  “And Sophia.”  He kissed her again.  “Don’t know what I’d do without ya.”  Carol sighed softly, rolling onto her back as he crawled over her.

“Then whatever happens, we keep fighting.  We survive.” 

“We keep goin’,” Daryl agreed.  Carol gently ran her hand down his side, fingers tracing over the fresh, pink scar from his wound.

“Still hurts?” she asked softly.

“Twinges a little,” he admitted.  “Nothin’ I can’t handle.”  Carol leaned in, pressing a kiss to his jaw and then to the hollow of his throat.  Then she rested her head against his chest and sighed.  He held her close, stroking her back, inhaling the sweet scent of her shampoo.

“That was the worst night of my life,” she whispered.  “I thought I lost you.”

“But you didn’t.  You found me,” he reminded her, kissing the top of her head.  “I ain’t goin’ nowhere.  Not if I can help it.”  Carol nodded then, snuggling into him a little closer. 

*~*~*~*~*~*

Carol woke sometime in the middle of the night, uncertain if she was coming out of a dream or if she’d really heard what she’d thought she heard.  She sat up in bed, heart racing, hand against her stomach, and she listened.  Daryl felt the shift in the bed, and he sat up, reaching for her in the darkness.

“You ok?”

“I thought I heard something,” she whispered, as the sound of crickets floated through the windows, and the mantle clock tick-tocked away. 

“Just a dream,” he murmured.  “Let’s go back to sleep.”  He lay back down, gently rubbing her back as she continued to sit up in the middle of the bed.  And then there it was again.  A loud bang from somewhere outside, a gunshot. 

“Daryl?”

“Stay here,” he murmured.  He got out of bed, tugging his jeans and boots on and grabbing the shotgun that was propped up next to the bed.  Carol flipped on the bedside lamp and pulled her robe on, moving to look out the window as Daryl headed out into the hall.  “Get away from the window.”  Carol startled and nodded, moving away, moving out into the hallway to watch him head down into the darkness.  The door across the hall opened, and Glenn came stumbling out, his dark hair messy with sleep.  Maggie poked her head out from behind him, eyes wide as another gunshot rang out in the distance. 

“What’s going on?” Glenn asked.  Carol shook her head and started down the stairs despite Daryl’s urging for her to stay put. 

“See anything?” she asked from the stairs as he peered out one of the front windows. 

“Nothin’,” he murmured.  “Go up and turn out the light.  Think it’s just someone drivin’ by blowin’ off steam.  Whoever it is, we don’t know what they want or what they’re up to.”  Carol nodded, hurrying back up to turn out the light by their bed.  She checked the other rooms to make sure the lights were out, and then she slowly made her way back down the stairs.  

“Did you see anything?” she asked, now joining Glenn and Maggie who had come down while she was up checking lights. 

“Saw some tail lights off toward the old Interstate.”  He passed her the binoculars and pointed her in the general direction.  She could see nothing but darkness until the glimmer of a tail light obscured her view.  She flinched. 

“I see it.”

“There’s more’n one.  Think maybe four or five cars.  Could be more with ‘em.” 

“You think they’re looking for shelter?” Glenn asked.  “Maybe they need help.”

“We don’t know ‘em,” Daryl bit out.  “Hell, they could be anybody.  They could be like the assholes that shot up the hospital that night.  We ain’t takin’ a chance.”  Carol gently put her hand on Daryl’s shoulder.  “We’ll wait out the night in the dark.  Might wanna lay low for a couple of days.”  Daryl looked at Glenn.  “We’ll take the girls out shootin’ in a few days if things are quiet.”  Glenn nodded, and a little voice from the top of the stairs had them all turning.

“Daddy?”  Sophia rubbed her eyes.  “I heard gunshots.  Are the bad people coming?”  Carol was the first to go up to her.

“Come back to bed, sweetie.  Everything’s ok.”

“I heard gunshots,” Sophia insisted.

“It’s ok, Soph.  Go back to bed,” Daryl urged, giving her a little nod.  Sophia reluctantly turned and followed her mother down the hall, and Daryl turned to look back out the window.  His heart was racing. They’d been too close for comfort.  He was sure they hadn’t seen them, was sure that they were still hidden, but they were in a big, open area with a lot of room to move around.  Anyone might want to check it out and put down stakes for a while.  He knew not everybody out there was bad, but the last thing he was willing to risk was his family’s safety.  They were together, and they were going to stay that way, and he was willing to fight for that if it came down to it.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 

Another week had passed on the farm.  The weather was cooling as fall approached; still, the days were warm and sometimes unbearably humid.  The nights had quieted again, and there had been no signs of other people since they’d seen the lights on the highway.  Still, Daryl wasn’t sleeping well, often getting up to peer out the window for any sign of unwanted visitors. 

There had been no word from Tyreese, and though no one would say it, the worry was weighing on them all.  He would have run out of food days ago.  Perhaps he had found his brother-in-law.  Perhaps they were gathering supplies and on their way back to the farm.  But the grim possibilities outweighed the meager hope.

Daryl had been taking Maggie and Beth out to practice shooting the last two days, and while Maggie was pretty comfortable with her posture and aim, Beth was still struggling.  Carol had even gone out with her once, trying to help her with her aim and her footing, but Beth was discouraged, and instead, she was making herself useful doing inventory of the ammo and learning how to clean the weapons.  At least she was familiarizing herself with them, but Carol was concerned.  She hoped Beth would never be in a situation where she’d have to use a gun, but they had to be prepared for anything.

Carol was feeling better.  She was still nauseated from time to time, but she wasn’t feeling as achy and sore as she had been.  Her belly was more obvious now, and she often woke to Daryl stroking her there.  Even with everything bad around them, Daryl had focused on this pregnancy and on his family as if keeping them together was going to secure a future for them all.  Carol was still skittish, but she loved watching Daryl find his strength in teaching what he knew about shooting and tracking.  She was learning so much from him, and in turn, she was teaching everyone else the basics of first aid.  At this point, even Daryl was prepared to sew up a wound, and he’d had a little practice when Glenn had cut his shoulder on a nail in the barn a few days ago.  With Carol’s supervision, he’d cleaned the wound, stitched it up and dressed it, and so far, Glenn was showing no signs of infection. 

They were growing and learning as not just a family but a community, and it was starting to feel like this farm was the center of what could one day be a larger community.  That was, if more people came along that they could trust.  Trust was a hard thing to hold onto these days with all of the violence that had ripped through country after country when the virus took hold.

It had been raining for the last day and a half, so when they woke that morning to a clear sky, Daryl had decided to go out hunting.  While they had plenty of food at the house, fresh meat was another matter.  They hadn’t resorted to butchering the cows, and they were hoping they could hold off on that for a while.  There were three new calves and two more heifers about to drop their calves any day.   There had been about two dozen deer in the back field that morning, and Daryl had spotted them with the binoculars. 

So, when Carol walked in on him slinging his crossbow over his shoulder, she leaned against the door frame and watched him until he realized she was there.

“You going somewhere?”

“Yeah, gonna try and get us a deer,” he offered, moving toward her, leaning in to greet her with a kiss. 

“Mind if I join you?”  Daryl did a double take.  “Oh, come on. Don’t look at me like that.”

“You sure you wanna do that?”

“Why not?  I’d like to learn.”

“You’re already a good tracker.”

“Well, what happens if you break your legs and go out?”

“You plannin’ on me takin’ a fall sometime soon?” he teased.

“No, I’m being realistic,” she insisted, matter-of-factly.

“Remember the last time I tried to take you huntin’?”  He saw the smile quirk up in the corner of Carol’s mouth.  “Didn’t catch a damned thing.”

“Yeah, and as I recall, that was _your_ fault.  You’re the one that wouldn’t stop pawing me in the tent.”  Daryl smirked.  “Yeah, remember?  You scared all the animals away, loud mouth.”

“Me?” Daryl snorted.  “Sounds like somebody’s got it twisted.”

“Admit it.  You just took me out there to have an excuse to do it in a tent.”  Daryl scoffed, and Carol snickered, kissing his cheek.  “It was still a lot of fun, even if the only thing I caught was a cold.”  She cocked her head to the side.  “You gonna tell me I can’t go?”

“Ain’t tellin’ you nothin’,” he promised.  “You sure you’re feelin’ up to it?”

“I feel better,” she promised.  “I think Maggie’s going through it, though.” 

“Yeah.  She ain’t been herself.” 

Maggie hadn’t come to Carol yet, and Glenn had been pretty tight-lipped around Daryl, and Daryl hadn’t pressed him.  It was pretty obvious what was going on, and they knew Maggie would tell them when she was ready.  They had no right to pry when they had their own secret to keep for now.

“They’ll talk to us when they’re ready,” Carol murmured, placing her hand over her own belly.  Daryl put his hand over hers, and he kissed her again.  “Sometimes it’s nice to keep a lid on things for a while.  Even now, you know?”  Daryl nodded then.  “So?  When do we leave?”

“We’ll head out in twenty.  You gonna be ready?”

“I’ll be ready in ten,” she replied with a wink, giving him a smack on the behind before she brushed past him and started rummaging through her clothes to find suitable gear.

Daryl turned to watch her.  She pulled off her top, revealing the slight swell of her belly, and she put on a long-sleeved shirt with a dark jacket on top.  She grabbed a pair of khaki cargo pants that fit her a little more snugly than she would have liked, but Daryl certainly didn’t mind the view.  She rolled her eyes when she caught him looking.

“Really?”

“What?”

“All you do is stare at me,” she chuckled.

“Somethin’ wrong with that?”

“No, but I feel like I’m on display.”  Daryl stepped up behind her, putting his hands on her belly and kissing the back of her neck, pressing his hips against her ass.  His hands moved up under the swell of her breasts, and she sighed, leaning back against his chest.  “Better stop.  Everybody’s awake.”  She turned in his arms then, kissing him softly.  “Or is this your way of distracting me from going out with you.”

“Nah,” Daryl murmured.  “I’ll let ya get ready.”  He kissed her again, and then he let her go.  She smiled, moving back across the room, and Daryl turned to head out. He ran into Sophia coming out of her room.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hey, Soph.  What’re you doin’?”

“Going to help Glenn in the barn.  The horses sure make a mess.”  Daryl chuckled at that.

“Yeah, they do.”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I have my own horse?”

“Think you gotta get a little more comfortable at ridin’ before we talk about that.  ‘Sides, your mama probably ain’t gonna want you to be ridin’ one by yourself for a long while.”  Sophia sighed.  “Hey, your mama is just lookin’ out for you.  She’s a doctor, remember?  M’sure she’s seen her share of kids who got hurt fallin’ off of horses.  She just wants you safe.  And so do I for that matter.” 

“I’m not a baby,” Sophia protested.

“No, you ain’t, but you’re _our_ baby.” 

“ _Dad_ ,” Sophia groaned. 

“Go on.  Go play,” Daryl chuckled.  “Me and mom are goin’ out for a bit.”

“Out?” Sophia asked, eyes widening with worry.

“Just out to hunt.  We’ll be back before supper.  Don’t worry.”

“Tyreese left, and he didn’t come back.”

“Well, that was different, and he might still be back.  We ain’t goin’ far.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.  C’mon, gimme a hug.”  Sophia wrapped her arms around her father’s waist and hugged him tightly.   When Carol stepped out of the bedroom with a backpack slung over her shoulder, Sophia hurried over and hugged her.  Carol looked to Daryl with surprise and then hugged her daughter close. 

“What was that for?”

“Come back before dark,” Sophia pleaded. 

“Honey, we’re not going far,” Carol promised.

“I know,” Sophia murmured, closing her eyes tightly as she hugged her mother a little tighter.  “But come home before dark.”  Carol bent down and kissed the top of her daughter’s head.

“We won’t be long,” Carol promised.

*~*~*~*~*

“Why the horse, though?” Carol asked, nodding to the horse Daryl was leading. 

“You’ll see,” he promised.

“Are you expecting us to have to make a quick getaway?”

“Nope,” Daryl murmured, nodding toward the path they were on, urging Carol to keep going.

“Which way now?” Carol asked, eyeing the ground, keeping her rifle pointed down and away. 

“This is your show.  You tell me,” Daryl smirked, chewing on a piece of straw.  Carol eyed him for a moment before turning her attention back to the ground.

“East.”

“Good.”

“Looks like three sets.  Maybe three does.  Maybe a doe and two fawns.”  Daryl raised an eyebrow.  “Two does.  One fawn.  The one doe and the fawn went slightly north.  The other kept going east.”   She looked to Daryl.  “You’re not going to give me any hints?”

“You’re doin’ just fine.” 

“You know we promised Sophia we’d be home by dark.”

“We still got a couple hours.  We ain’t far,” Daryl promised.  Carol sighed.  They walked a bit further and found a pile of droppings. 

“You don’t expect me to touch that, do you?”

“Nah,” Daryl chuckled.  “It’s fresh though.  We’re close.”  He nodded toward a smattering of bushes, and Carol noticed the leaves on one moving differently than the others, as if something was inside of it or just behind.  She looked to Daryl.  He nodded at her, so she lifted her gun. 

“Wait,” he whispered.  “Wait for it.”  She kept her finger on the trigger, and it wasn’t long before a doe stepped out into the clearing, not fifty yards from where they stood.  Daryl lifted his crossbow, and Carol shook her head. 

“Mine,” she whispered, lining up her shot and closing one eye as she took aim.  She held her breath until the last second, releasing it with the pull of the trigger.  The horse reared, but Daryl kept a good, tight grip on the lead, patting his muzzle as  the doe fell dead to the ground.   Carol felt her heart hammering so hard in her chest she thought she might topple over.  Daryl took a step toward the animal, and he looked back at her. 

“Damn,” he murmured.  “One clean shot.  She didn’t suffer.  Good job.”   Carol took a shaky breath and put her rifle down. 

“She’s big,” Carol breathed, glancing up at Daryl.  “How the hell are we gonna get her home?”  Daryl nodded toward some fallen tree branches and shrugged the pack off of his back.  “We’ll tie these branches together with this rope.”  He pulled some rope from his pack and an old, tattered sheet.  “Tie the sheet across it, hitch it to the horse’s saddle and pull her home.”

“That…it actually really smart.  I knew I married you for a reason.”  She kissed his cheek.  Daryl chuckled then.  “Can I help?”

“Said this is your show, didn’t I?”

“Oh, so you expect me to do this?”

“I’ll help if ya need it.  You can do this.”  He took a step back, leaning against a tree as he watched his wife try to figure out how to construct this contraption out of branches, rope and a sheet.  After a few hiccups in her plan, she finally had a pretty sturdy looking litter.  When she turned to Daryl with a proud smile on her face, Daryl shook his head.  “You’re just fulla surprises, huh?”

“You have no idea,” she teased with a wink.  “You want to help me hitch it, or am I gonna do that, too?”

“Take a breather.  I’ll finish this up.  You did good.”

“Had a good teacher,” she smiled.  She stepped out of the way and let him work, and within twenty minutes, they were heading back toward the farm with Carol’s prize doe in tow.  They would eat well tonight.

*~*~*~*

Carol’s prize doe had not only become dinner for the small group of survivors, but it had become a lesson in how to clean your kill and prepare the meat for cooking.  Daryl had had the group meet in the barn, and while Beth had to step out and Maggie looked a little green in the face, everybody learned a few things they hadn’t known before.

When it was all over, Carol and Maggie had taken the meat into the kitchen to cook, and to everyone’s delight, the meat had been tender and savory, the best meal any of them had had in a long while.  Afterwards, the men helped clear the table, while Carol and Maggie sat out on the front porch, letting the cool evening breeze wash over them.  Something about the big, old farmhouse made the house impossibly hot when that stove was running, and Carol had needed to step out for fear of getting overheated.  Maggie had joined her, and now they sat on the porch step listening to the crickets begin their evening serenade.

“You ok?” Maggie asked quietly, glancing at Carol as they sat on the porch steps. 

“I’m ok,” Carol promised.  “Just a little warm.  You look a little flushed, yourself.”

“I’m ok,” Maggie offered with a little shrug.  They sat in silence a few minutes longer.  “Carol?”

“Hmm?”

“You think the virus is gone?”

“We can’t be sure, but I imagine with most people gone, it’s run its course.”

“Do you think…do you think another virus might come along?”

“Anything’s possible, I suppose,” Carol said quietly, picking at a stray thread on the sleeve of her shirt.  Maggie rubbed the palms of her hands on the sides of her legs. 

“We’re immune, right?” Maggie asked.  “Whatever killed everybody else won’t kill us.”

“I think it’s safe to say that,” Carol agreed.  “I worked on countless children, and you were around your father.  If anybody was going to get it, we all would have.  But we didn’t.  We’re ok.”

“Right,” Maggie said slowly.  “So, in theory, if one day one of us was to have a baby, do you think that baby would be immune?  I mean, say, if both of the parents survived this virus, the baby should be immune, too, right?”  Carol looked to Maggie.

“In theory,” Carol offered, feeling a tug deep down in her belly.  “I hope so.”  She took a shaking breath.  “Genetics are a funny thing, but I would say the chance of the baby being immune would be much greater with two immune parents.”  Carol eyed her for a moment. 

“But there’s a chance it wouldn’t be.”

“There’s always a chance, but we won’t know until there’s a baby, I suppose.”  Carol felt her heart sink.  What if this baby wasn’t immune?  What if it was safe inside of her, only to be born and become infected?  What if they lost this baby?  She shivered, and she put her hand to her stomach.  This didn’t go unnoticed to Maggie.  Carol quickly took her hand away, but it was too late.  She looked to Maggie pleadingly.

“You and Daryl are immune.  So is Sophia.  Why wouldn’t this baby be immune, too?”

“Please, don’t…”

“I won’t say anything,” Maggie promised.  “How far along?”

“Somewhere between eleven and twelve weeks, I think,” Carol murmured.  She looked at Maggie.  “What about you?”

“You…”

“I’ve been through this before, remember?” Carol chuckled.

“Right,” Maggie sighed.  “Not sure.  Seven or eight, maybe.  I started having symptoms before everything happened, but then with daddy dyin’ and everything going crazy, I guess my mind was on other things.  I don’t know, really.”  Her eyes were filled with tears, and Carol took her hand.  “I’m terrified.”

“I know.  Me too,” Carol admitted.  “Bringing a baby into the world before was scary enough.  Now?  I don’t know what we have to look forward to, but we can’t be afraid to live.  We just take each day as it comes and hope for the best.”  She took a shaking breath.  “Your secret’s safe with me.”

“Thanks, Carol,” Maggie murmured softly.  Carol gave her hand a squeeze, and then she stood.  Just as she was turning to go back into the house, something caught her eye in the distance.  She froze.  “What is it?”

“Go get Daryl,” Carol murmured, walking to the other side of the porch and leaning over the railing.  “Go get him.  And turn out the lights.”  Maggie stood quickly and rushed into the house.  Carol peered down the long lane toward the highway, watching the glow from a pair of headlights filter through the tree tops.  And then a second set of lights.  Carol’s breath caught in her throat, and she gripped the railing as the screen door smacked open. The house went dark almost instantly, and Daryl stepped out, coming up beside his wife.

“What…”

“Look,” she murmured, as the two sets of headlights turned up the long drive to the farmhouse.  “Daryl.”  She watched Daryl tense next to her, and she held her breath.

“Get inside,” he urged.  “Get everybody in the kitchen.  Get the guns.”

“Daryl…”

“I’m right behind ya.  Go on.”  Carol turned then, rushing into the house, pushing past Beth who stared wide-eyed at the door. 

“What’s happening?” the girl asked.

“Come on,” Carol urged.  “Come on, let’s go.”  She took Beth’s hand, and she turned back toward the front door.  “Daryl!” Daryl turned then, heading inside and shutting the front door, locking the deadbolt in place.  Everyone gathered in the kitchen, and Carol got into the pantry, grabbing weapons and passing them around.

“Soph, stay with Beth, ok?” Daryl asked.  Sophia nodded, eyes wide, and she let out a little cry when Daryl stepped out of the kitchen and back toward the front of the house.  He moved to the front door, peering out to see the light shining from somewhere near the barn.  He stepped out of the foyer and into the living room, straining to see any sign of anyone. 

“See anything?”  Daryl spun around to see Carol walking up behind him.

“Just headlights.  Maybe they’re just checkin’ the barn.  They’ll grab some shit and leave.”

“Daryl, we’ve stockpiled in the barn.  They could take it all.”  Daryl knew she was right.  He knew they had to protect their land and their possessions, and losing everything they’d gathered was not an option.

“Stay here,” Daryl murmured, opening the side door and stepping out onto the wrap-around porch.

“Be careful,” Carol whispered.

“Nine lives, remember?” Daryl asked, reaching out and squeezing his wife’s hand.  “They get past me, get back to the kitchen and get everybody out.”  Carol nodded, breath hitching in her chest.  She stepped out onto the porch, leaning against the side of the house as Daryl stepped out into the dewy grass. 

He slipped around the side of the house and out of her sight, and as he approached the barn, he could hear hushed whispers coming from outside.  He moved quickly and quietly toward the front of the barn.  He peered around the side, unable to make out faces, only shadows of people.  He stayed to the side of the barn, back pressed up against it.

“Drop whatever you’re takin’ and go,” he called.  The voices stopped.  “Don’t want no trouble.  Nobody needs to get hurt.  Just move on.”

“Daryl?”  Daryl froze at the voice, one he’d begun to think he might not hear again.  He let out a slow, shaking breath and leaned his head back against the side of the barn.

“Tyreese?”


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

“Daryl, come on out.  It’s ok.  It’s ok.”  Daryl kept his gun raised, but he stepped out of the shadows, peering into the bright headlights of the police cruiser.  Tyreese reached into the car and turned them off, and Daryl looked around to see another very familiar face. 

“Rick?  That you?”  The man standing next to the other car was tall and lean and looked like he’d dropped a good ten pounds.  His face was unshaven, and his hair and beard were ragged and unruly.  “Rick Grimes?”

“It’s good to see you, brother,” Rick murmured with a heavy sigh, moving across the lot to reach out for Daryl’s hand.  Daryl slowly lowered his gun and accepted Rick’s handshake.  Rick’s grip was weak.  He looked as if he hadn’t eaten in days, and when he looked to Tyreese, he could see it in his eyes.  It was hell out there.

“Where’d you find ‘em?” Daryl asked, glancing around to see a woman, tall and stoic, wary even.  Her dark, piercing eyes glanced around the farm as if she expected an attack at any moment. In the pale light of the other vehicle’s one good headlight, Daryl could see the woman’s dark skin was peppered with bruises, and her hand lay protectively over the swell of her stomach.  A boy that Daryl recognized as Rick’s son Carl stood next to the woman, one hand on the pistol tucked into his front pocket. 

“Turns out, his house was just down the way from my brother-in-law’s.  Found him scavenging at a grocery store down the block.  He was looking for formula, food, ammo.  We found a few guns in the basement of the police station, but everything else was gone.”

“Your brother-in-law?” Daryl asked.  Tyreese shook his head.  “M’sorry.”  Tyreese took a shuddering breath and motioned toward Rick.

“Rick and his kids and Michonne were staying at their house, but looters were coming through just about every night.  Didn’t take much convincing to get them on board with coming back here.  Couldn’t leave them there.  Everything was burning around them.”

“Lori?” Daryl asked, glancing to Rick.  Rick shook his head, clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Virus took her,” he explained.  “She was gone the night of the riots.”

“M’sorry, man,” Daryl murmured.  “The rest of you?  You’re alright?”

“They’re hungry.  Exhausted.  Baby’s hungry, and Carol might wanna look her over.  We got supplies.  It’s bad out there, Daryl,” Tyreese explained.  “I know you got your family to protect, but these folks don’t have anywhere else to go.”  Tyreese looked to the other car, where Daryl could see the shadow of someone else inside.  “There are bad people out there.”  He looked to the pregnant woman.  “Got caught by a group of looters last night.  She’s banged up pretty bad.  Thought maybe Carol could take a look at her.”  Daryl nodded then, and he turned at the sound of footsteps behind him.  Carol came up alongside the barn, eyes wide as she caught sight of Daryl standing and talking with Tyreese.

“You’re alright,” she sighed.  “Thank God.”  She pulled Tyreese into a hug, and he hugged her right back.

“I’m alright,” he promised.  “Brought some people back with me if you folks wouldn’t mind having them.”

“Rick?” Carol asked.  “Carl.”  She sighed heavily when she saw the pained look in Carl’s eyes.  She knew.  Lori wasn’t there.  She didn’t need to know the details. She just knew she was gone.  Carol took Daryl’s hand, and she felt him give hers a squeeze. 

“I was just asking Daryl if he thought you might take a look at Michonne, here.  She’s pregnant, and she’s pretty beat up.”

“My God, what happened?”

“Looters,” Tyreese murmured.  “They wanted what we had.  They killed one of the group.  Kid named Zach.  Damn near killed Michonne and Carl in the process.”  He motioned toward the car, and a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes came out holding a young baby with soft brown hair.  She passed that baby off to Carl and reached into the car, pulling out another infant, one a little older with blonde hair and sleepy eyes. 

“Judith,” Carol sighed, hurrying over to take the baby from the woman.  “You poor little thing.”  She held the baby close.  She hadn’t seen her since well before the outbreak, but knowing now that the little girl had lost her mother was enough to bring tears to Carol’s eyes. 

“This is Tara.  That’s baby Gracie.”  He nodded toward the baby in Carl’s arms. 

“Is she yours?” Carol asked the young woman.  Tara shook her head.

“I found her in an old apartment building.  Her parents were dead.  The virus.  She was half-starved, but she’s ok now.”   Tyreese looked to Daryl and Carol.  “I couldn’t leave her there.  Sucks to be the only one to survive.  I lost my dad, my sister and my niece.  Even my girlfriend.  I was the only one lucky enough to be immune.”  She wiped at her nose with the back of her hand.  “It’s bullshit.”

“I know it’s a lot of extra mouths to feed, but I know we’ve got supplies.  We can find more.  I couldn’t leave them.”

“No, you couldn’t,” Carol agreed.  “You all must be so hungry.”  She looked to Daryl who swallowed hard and gave her a little nod, urging her to extend the invitation.  “We have leftovers.  There’s plenty to go around.”  She sniffled then, gently kissing the top of Judith’s head and holding her arm out toward Carl.  He walked toward her, eyes cold and distant until she wrapped her arm around him, and then he buried his face against her side, hugging her with one arm and holding the baby with the other.  She’d known Carl since he was just a little thing, and when he and Sophia had started school together, they’d shared a teacher and become the best of friends.  “I’m sorry about your mom,” she whispered, and he clung to her a little tighter.  Then he pulled back and moved to stand by Michonne again.  Rick cleared his throat and shook his head, stepping closer to Carol and Daryl, lowering his voice.

“He won’t talk.  He was with Lori when she died.”  Carol’s hand flew to her chest, and she choked back a sob. 

“I can’t imagine,” she whispered.  She reached up to gently touch Rick’s forehead, running her thumb just under where a crassly stitched wound showed signs of infection.  “Who did this?”

“I did,” Rick murmured. 

“It’s infected.”  Rick brought his hand to his forehead.  “You’ll live.  Come inside, and we’ll take care of you.” 

*~*~*~*~*

Beth and Sophia helped Maggie make up beds downstairs using cushions, pillows and fitted sheets.  There was an old crib in the attic that Glenn and Daryl brought down and set up in front of the fireplace.

Carol checked out the little ones first, examining them gently and discovering they were both underweight but healthy otherwise.  She passed one infant off to Beth to feed, while she handed the other to Glenn, who looked like he’d never held a baby before.  But once the babies were tended to, Carol cleaned and dressed Rick’s wound before giving him a dose of antibiotics to fight the infection.  He was going to have a scar, but he was going to live, so she figured he wouldn’t mind so much.

Michonne’s wounds were superficial and only needed cleaned and bandaged.  She didn’t need stitches, but she was sore, and when Carol put her hand on her belly, she flinched. 

“How far along?” Carol asked softly, feeling for any movement from the fetus. 

“Thirty-five.  No.  Thirty-seven weeks,” Michonne murmured.  “It’s hard to keep track of time these days.” 

“I know,” Carol murmured.  Michonne was thin.  Too thin for a woman as pregnant as she was. 

“I haven’t felt the baby move in days.”  Michonne’s lower lip trembled as she fought back the tears.  She fought back the tears and won, and she leaned back against the couch, running her hand over her forehead.  “Food’s been scarce.”

“I understand,” Carol murmured softly.  “We were fortunate to have this place.”  She shook her head.

“Is the baby…”

“Hold on,” Carol murmured, grabbing one of her bags.  She pulled out her trusty stethoscope and placed the cold, flat end against Michonne’s belly.  She moved it around a few moments before a smile spread across her face.  “Strong, healthy heartbeat.”  Michonne let out a sigh of relief.  “The baby’s probably not moving much because you’re close to delivering.  Is this your first baby?”  Michonne nodded.

“He’s a boy,” she choked out.  “Andre Anthony.”

“That’s a beautiful name,” Carol smiled. 

“His father didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry.”  Michonne blinked back another round of tears and took a shaking breath.

“We broke up months ago.  He wasn’t ready to be a father.  It was him or the baby, he said.”  She placed her hand on her stomach, and Carol shook her head.  “But last month, he came around.  It was already over between us, but if he wanted to be in our son’s life, I wasn’t going to deny him that.”

“I’m so sorry you went through that.”

“That little girl?  She’s yours?”

“Sophia,” Carol nodded.

“She looks like you.”  She sniffled.  “You’re lucky to still have your family.”  Carol nodded then but said nothing.  “Rick found me about a week after everything went to hell.  He helped.”

“He’s a good man.  I’ve known him for a while.  Our families are close.  He worked with my husband and with Tyreese.”

“Your husband’s a cop, too?”

“Was,” Carol murmured.  “Before.”

“Was,” Michonne murmured.  “I guess everything _is_ was now.”  Carol managed a smile.

“Have you taken prenatals?”

“Yeah.  I still have some.  That’s one thing I stocked up on the day I found out I was pregnant. I guess I was afraid of running out.”  She smiled weakly.  “Diapers and formula, too.  I had to leave it behind.”

“We have diapers.  Formula, too.  We can find more,” Carol offered with a little nod.  “Don’t worry about that.”

“It’s a lot to take on.  This group.”

“People need people.  Especially now.”  Carol stood then, moving to wash her hands, and Michonne’s gaze followed her around the room.  “What are you?  Two, three months?”  Carol stopped in her tracks and turned to Michonne. 

“Is it that obvious?”

“Oh, you’re not telling yet?”

“Not really, no,” Carol murmured, taking a seat across from Michonne.  “I wanted to wait a while longer, just in case.  This wasn’t planned.  Honestly, it was a big surprise.  And then everything happened.  And I knew the second we started telling people, everything would change.”  She shook her head.

“I get that.”  Michonne put her hand over her belly.  “I’m terrified.” 

“Yeah,” Carol murmured, running her fingers through her hair and blinking back tears.  “Me too.”

*~*~*~*

“Everybody check out ok?” Daryl asked quietly, as Carol warmed her hands by rubbing them together before slipping into bed with him.

“Yeah, I think so,” she whispered, curling up against him, his bare chest like her own personal furnace on this cool evening.  “I’m a little worried about Michonne and her baby.”

“Think Rick’s even more worried than you are.”  Carol glanced at him.  “Yeah.  Think he’s got a thing for her.”

“Oh,” Carol murmured.  It felt strange to think about, considering the last time she’d seen Rick, he and Lori had just welcomed Judith and were patching things up after a rough spot in their marriage.  Still, people needed people, and Michonne seemed kind.  “You’re ok with this?

“Ain’t gonna lie,” Daryl murmured.  “You and the girls and the baby mean more to me than anything else.  When it comes down to it, I’d trade any of them for my family.”

“Daryl.”

“Rick’s a good guy.  He’s a good cop.  But I worked with him long enough to know that he likes to take charge, likes to control the situation.”

“You think he’ll be a problem here?”

“I hope not,” Daryl murmured.  Carol settled in, resting her head against Daryl’s chest.  “This is our home.  I ain’t gonna turn away somebody that needs our help, but I ain’t gonna let nobody take this place.”

“Rick wouldn’t do that,” Carol murmured. 

“This world ain’t what it used to be.  Folks change.” 

“Did you see Carl?” Carol asked softly. 

“Yeah.  Poor kid.”

“I can’t imagine,” Carol murmured.  “That could’ve been Sophia.  She could…”

“Don’t think like that.  Neither of us is goin’ anywhere anytime soon.”  He kissed the top of her head, pulling her a little closer, putting his hand against her belly.  “The little ones are ok?”

“They’re underweight, but I think they’ll be ok. Rick hasn’t left Judith out of his sight.  And little Gracie?  Well, Tara’s got her, but I think  she’s a little overwhelmed by it all.  She’s so young.”  She sighed softly.  “Maybe I should offer to help her.”

“Take that on with everything else?” Daryl asked.

“I don’t know,” Carol admitted.  “I’ll think about it.”  She moaned softly and shifted in the bed.  “Maggie told me.”

“Huh?”

“She told me.”

“Oh,” Daryl murmured.  “She ok?”

“She’s freaking out.  I get that.  I probably should be, too.”  Daryl gently rubbed her belly, and she leaned up to press a kiss to his lips.  “I think we’re gonna need a bigger farm.”  Daryl snorted at that, and she smiled.  “We’ll be outnumbered by kids before we know it.”

“You ok with all this?”

“Yeah,” Carol offered with a nod.  “We need numbers.  I want our kids to have a future, and they can’t have that if all they’re going to have is each other when the rest of us are gone.”  She sighed.  “I hate to think about that, but it’s reality now.  It can’t just be us.  We have to re-build.  We’ll start here, and then who knows?  A year from now, maybe it’ll be safe to go into the cities, have homes again.”

“Maybe,” Daryl murmured sleepily.  He kissed her again, and she settled down against him, yawning as the need for sleep pulled her a little closer to the edge.  She closed her eyes and let herself be carried off to dreams of something more for their family, for their friends.  Maybe there were enough people left out there that someday, the world would expand for them again and give them something like what a normal life used to be.  Someday.  For now, they had this, and it had to be enough.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“What brought that on?” Daryl panted, rolling onto his back as Carol stretched out next to him on the bed.  She put the back of her hand against her forehead and chuckled, pulling the sheet up over herself.

“You complaining?”

“No, just askin’,” he got out, running his fingers through his sweat-soaked hair.  They’d been up early, just enjoying the quiet before the rest of the household woke up.  He’d come up behind her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, and the next thing either of them knew, they were shedding clothes at lightning speed and falling back against the mattress tangled up in one another. 

“I don’t know,” she chuckled, covering her face with her hands.  In the last couple of weeks since the new group had come to the farm, Carol had been feeling pretty sluggish, which she’d chalked up to pure exhaustion from looking after Sophia and helping out with Gracie and Judith.  But she’d woken up with an extra bit of energy that morning, and perhaps it was the dreams she’d had the night before or just the way he’d been looking at her all morning, but her hormones had started going crazy. 

Even now, as they lay there, she craved him, but she knew the rest of the household would be waking soon.

“I remember,” Daryl chuckled.  “You got like this when you were carryin’ Sophia.”

“What?” she laughed.  “That was a long time ago.”

“So?  I ain’t complainin’ sweetheart.  You just ain’t been feelin’ up to much lately, and…”

“Well, I guess I’m trying to make up for lost time.”  She rolled over to kiss him softly.  He smiled against her lips. 

“Swear your belly’s grown overnight.”

“Ok, that’s not exactly keeping me in the mood,” she snorted.

“Nah, I mean it.”  Carol smiled then, when Daryl moved his hand down to her belly, and she put her hand over his. 

“I think we’re out of the first trimester.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.  I mean, it’s getting harder to hide this.  I know.”  She sat up a little in the bed.  “We should tell the rest of the group.  I want to tell Sophia first, though.  She should know first.”

“Alright,” Daryl agreed.  “Tonight?”

“Yeah.  I think so.   Michonne’s going to be delivering any day now, and I know Sophia’s going to have a lot of questions.”

“Well, you’re a doctor.”

“So that means I have to do it?” Carol asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hell, you know how to explain that kinda stuff.  ‘Sides, you’re a girl.  Uh, woman.”

“And that means I get stuck with the birds and the bees talk?”

“You really want me talkin’ to our daughter ‘bout that?” he asked.  Carol made a face.

“Fair point.  No offense.”

“None taken,” he snorted.  “If this one’s a boy, I’ll talk to him when the time’s right.  Deal?”

“Deal,” Carol laughed, giving him a quick peck on the lips.  “See, we have this marriage thing down pretty good, huh?  I mean, after fifteen years, we better.”  One of the roosters crowed outside, and Carol snorted.  “Who needs an alarm clock these days?”  One of the babies began to cry downstairs, prompting the other one to join in.  Carol sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.  “It’s getting pretty crowded here.”

“Gonna be cold soon,” Daryl murmured.  “Rick and Tyreese were talking about maybe convertin’ the barn into a house.”

“Yeah?  You think they could do that?” Carol asked.

“Think so.  I mean, it’s a sound structure, and the cattle got their own shelter out in the pasture.  We could add insulation, put up drywall.  Might be able to make a house of it.”

“Before winter?  Daryl, maybe we should think about finding someplace else.”

“What kinda place is gonna have the space and the resources we got here?  We got cattle, we got the woods where we can hunt, and we got four wells to get water out of.  I mean, hell, we’re sittin’ on a gold mine here.”

“I know.  You’re right,” Carol offered with a nod.  Daryl glanced at her. 

“You ok?”

“I’m ok,” she promised.  “I don’t want to leave the farm, but we can’t all live under one roof like this forever.  Maybe Rick and Tyreese are onto something.”

“Yeah.  I mean, Tyreese has construction experience.  He used to volunteer building homes for a charity before he joined the force.  Think he might have a few ideas.  I’ll talk to him.”

“Ok,” Carol smiled.  “Sounds good.”  She sighed, pulling herself out of bed and putting her hand against her aching back.  She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow.  “What?”

“Yeah, I ain’t sure you’re gonna be able to hide that much longer at all.”  She made a face but put her hand over her belly.  “You’re beautiful.”

“You’re just saying that,” she murmured with an eye roll.

“I mean it.  I always mean it.”  Carol smiled then, and a knock came to their door.

“Mom?  Daddy?”  Sophia called, turning the doorknob only to find it locked. 

“We’ll be out soon, sweetie,” Carol called.  She chuckled and turned to look at Daryl.  “I think we’d better enjoy all the privacy we can, because as crowded as this place, it’s about to get a whole lot more crowded.” 

“I’ll talk to Tyreese today,” Daryl promised, giving her one more quick kiss before they both started getting cleaned up for the day.

*~*~*~*~*

Carol tapped on the door to what used to be a sewing room.  It had been cleaned out, and a bed had been moved in, and a little bassinet sat next to the bed by the wall.  Michonne looked up from where she sat with her hand on her belly, and she gave Carol a little smile.

“Come in,” she offered.  Carol stepped in with the blood pressure monitor in one hand and a stethoscope in the other.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Exhausted,” Michonne admitted.  “I told myself I was going to get some shooting practice in, but then I just didn’t quite make it down the stairs to go out and do that.”  Carol chuckled, remembering that feeling all too well. 

“I understand,” Carol chuckled.  She fastened the blood pressure monitor to Michonne’s arm, and they sat in silence as Carol pumped the cuff.  A few moments later, Carol put the monitor away and put the stethoscope to Michonne’s belly, listening with a little smile on her face. 

“Everything’s ok?”

“Mmm,” Carol smiled.  “Your blood pressure’s good, and the baby’s heart rate is about what it should be.  He seems pretty cozy in there, so I look for it to be at least another week.  You said this is your first baby, right?”

“First, only, last.”   They both laughed at that.

“Yeah, that’s sort of what I said about Sophia, only that was just because she was enough of a surprise that I didn’t think I’d get that lucky twice.”  She smiled then, placing her hand on her own stomach.

“Well, I admire you,” Michonne murmured.  “You’re lucky.  You have a beautiful little girl, a husband that loves you, a family that stuck together through a lot of bad.” 

“Well, I want you to know you’re not alone.  We’re all here for you.”

“I appreciate that.  I do.”  Michonne took a shaking breath.  “So you’ve done this before?”

“I helped deliver a lot of babies when I was an intern,” Carol promised.  “And I worked obstetrics for almost a solid month where I delivered at least three babies a day when I was a resident.  I know this isn’t the greatest set up for delivery, but I’ll do everything I can to keep you comfortable and get the baby out safely.” 

“Thank you,” Michonne murmured.  “We’re lucky to have a doctor here.” 

“I wish I could say the same,” Carol murmured, concern creasing her brow as she placed her hand on her stomach again.

“It’ll be ok,” Michonne urged.  “Besides, we may have more people by then.  Maybe even another doctor.”

“Maybe,” Carol offered.  “But I’m starting to think I might need to have some help.  Maybe Maggie.”  She shook her head.  “Someday, I might not be here, and somebody’s going to have to do these things.”

“Well, that day’s a long time from now,” Michonne offered positively.  “So don’t think about the bad things.  You didn’t get this far for nothing.  You’re gonna be fine.”

“I thought I was the one that was supposed to reassure the patient,” Carol chuckled.

“You being here is enough assurance for me,” Michonne murmured.

“Oh!” Carol exclaimed.  “I almost forgot.”  She got up and hurried out of the room, only to return with a little stuffed elephant.  “Sophia found this in the attic.  She wanted me to give it to you for the baby.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Michonne murmured.  “Thank you.”  She gently ran her fingers along the soft fuzzy toy and smiled. 

“It’s a miracle,” Carol offered.  “Being born after the world ends.  These kids gonna help bring the world back to what it used to be.  Or close.  Maybe better.”

“Hopefully better,” Michonne offered with a little smile.  “Thank you again.  I can’t tell you how much it means.”

“I’m here,” Carol promised.  “I’m not gonna let you do this alone.”

 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

_“Babe?”  Daryl stepped into the house and tossed his keys and wallet onto the table by the door.  Toys were strewn across the foyer, and he could smell something cooking—rather, burning—in the kitchen.  The television was on, and so were various musical or noisy toys scattered about the place. “Carol?”  He heard a thump upstairs followed by a swear.  Then he heard Sophia crying._

_“Shit!”_

_“Carol?”_

_“Up here,” she hollered, voice rich with exasperation.  “Just follow the trail of strawberry jelly on the stairs!”  Daryl glanced up the wooden staircase to find little hand-shaped stains of strawberry jelly on the steps and on the wall._

_“What happened?” he asked, stepping up onto the landing and taking the last four steps to find Carol sitting in the middle of the hallway with her head in her hands.  She looked up at him and then she burst into tears.  “Hey.  It’s ok.”  He hurried to her, crouching down beside her, as Sophia continued screaming in the bedroom.  “She ok?”_

_“Yes,” she sniffled.  “I’m not.”_

_“What happened?”_

_“Sophia destroyed the living room, and when I tried to clean up by distracting her with jelly on toast, she figured out how to get out of her high chair and then started up the stairs.  I forgot to put the gate up.  I freaked out, and I followed after her, and I finally got her a bath and put her down for a nap, and she was sleeping so soundly, and then I dropped the fucking laundry basket and woke her up.  And here I am.”  Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.  Daryl hadn’t seen her like this before.  She’d taken a week’s paid vacation to get some things done around the house, and day one was a complete disaster._

_“Sounds like you had a tough day.”_

_“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  Daryl, I love Sophia, but I thought the terrible twos were supposed to start when they turned two.  What’s going to happen when she turns two?  I mean, she’s a monster today.”_

_“Yeah, I hear that terrible twos thing is a myth,” Daryl chuckled._

_“The house is a mess.  I’m sorry.”_

_“I didn’t get married to have a maid, babe,” he promised, leaning in to give her a kiss before she sniffled and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.  “Don’t apologize.  ‘Sides, that’s my little monster in there, too.”  Carol laughed then, and she leaned her head back against the wall.  “You want me to clean up, or you want me to get Soph?”_

_“You clean up.  I’ll get her.  She always wants her mama after a nap,” Carol pointed out.  Daryl nodded, and he kissed her again.  “Daryl, thank you.”_

_“Hey, that’s what I’m here for.”  She smiled, and he got up, heading to change out of his uniform and into some sweats, and Carol pulled herself up and headed into the nursery to tend to Sophia, thankful she’d managed to find a man who was there as her equal every step of the way._

_“Mama, mama!” Sophia babbled, as she stepped into the nursery._

_“Alright, Sophia.  Are you done making messes today?”  Sophia grinned, showing her bottom two teeth, and Carol picked her crib and carried her downstairs, being mindful of the sticky stair steps.  Daryl met her halfway down the stairs, gave her a kiss and kissed his daughter’s cheek.  As chaotic as that day was, Daryl had managed to make everything a little bit better.  She counted herself lucky to have him as a partner._

*~*~*~*~*

“What’s wrong?” Sophia asked, peeking into her parents’ room with wide eyes.  Carol sat on the bed, as Daryl ushered their daughter into the room.  Sophia glanced up at her father who gave her a little smile.

“Nothin’s wrong,” he promised.  “Me and mom just wanted to talk to ya a minute.”

“Am I in trouble?”

“No, silly,” Carol chuckled.  “Come sit down.”  Sophia moved to sit down on the bed, and Daryl leaned against the wall close by.  Sophia glanced up at him and then back to her mother. 

“What’s going on?”

“Well, you know how Michonne’s going to have a baby?” Carol asked softly. 

“Yeah,” Sophia said with a nod.  “Andre.”

“That’s right,” Carol smiled.  “Well…”

“How’d the baby get in there, anyway?” Sophia asked, looking to her dad.  Daryl’s mouth fell open for a moment, and then he looked to Carol.

“Well, I’ll get to that part,” Carol assured her.  “But, do you remember how when Carl’s little sister was born, you asked me and daddy if you could have a brother or sister?”

“Yeah,” Sophia said slowly.  “You said ‘don’t be sad if that doesn’t happen,’ and daddy said ‘you never know.’”  Daryl chuckled.

“You’ve got a good memory, kid.”  Sophia looked up at him and then looked back at her mom. 

“Well, daddy and I have something to tell you.”  She took a deep breath and looked to Daryl before putting her hand on Sophia’s shoulder.  “Honey, we’re going to have a baby.”

“Really?” Sophia asked, eyes wide as she bounced on the side of the bed.  “Is it a boy or a girl?  Can I name it?  Oh, she can sleep in my room!”

“Well, it won’t be for a while,” Carol chuckled.  “We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl, and we won’t until the baby gets here.  But you’re going to be a big sister, so you’re going to have some responsibilities.”  Sophia stood, bouncing on her feet.

“I’ll change the diapers and make the bottles.  Oh, and I promise, I’ll read her a story every night!”  Daryl grinned at Sophia’s enthusiasm.  “I’ll teach her all kinds of things.”  She wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck.  “This is so much better than my own horse!”  Sophia broke away from her grinning mother and hugged her father.  “But can I get one of those, too?”

“We’ll see,” Daryl laughed.  “Now you can’t tell nobody ‘til we do, ok?  We just wanted to tell you first, ‘cause you’re the big sister.”

“Nobody else knows?”

“Well, Michonne knows,” Carol said softly.  “And Maggie.  I sort of let it slip.”

“This is cool.  Maybe if I tell Carl, he’ll talk to me again.”

“Honey, I’m not sure that’s the case,” Carol offered.  “Carl’s just going through a rough time. He’ll talk when he’s ready.”

“He misses his mom a lot, huh?”

“Yeah, I expect he does.”

“Maybe I can help him,” Sophia offered, mind drifting away from the excitement of the impending arrival of her new sibling.  “How can I help him, Mom?”

“Just be there for him.  Just be his friend.”  Carol smoothed Sophia’s hair back, gently caressing the back of her head.  “Just let him know you care.”  Sophia nodded, and kissed the top of her daughter’s head.  “So, are you excited about the baby?”

“Yeah.  The baby’s in your belly?”

“Mmmhmm.  It’s safe and warm and growing there until it’s time to come out.  Like Michonne’s baby.”  Sophia nodded.

“So, how’d it get in there?”  Carol’s gaze met Daryl’s, and he raised his eyebrows.

“Guess that’s my cue to leave.”  Carol made a face at him behind Sophia’s back, and he winked at her.

“Bye, daddy,” Sophia called, turning to her mother with wide, curious eyes.  “You said you were getting to the part about how the baby got there.”  Carol’s face fell.

“I did, didn’t I?” she sighed.  Sophia nodded.  Carol cringed, remembering being around the same age when she was given that talk, and Sophia was going to have to hear it sooner or later.  So, with a sigh, she stood up and began to pace, while Sophia sat there on the bed with her hands folded in her lap.  Carol took a deep breath and took the plunge.  “Well, Sophia, when two people love each other very much…”

*~*~*~*~*

Daryl squinted into the sunlight, shielding his eyes with his hand for a moment just in time to see Carol stepping out of the house and starting across the lot toward the barn.  He, Glenn, Tyreese and Tara had started clearing out boxes of supplies and bringing them into the house to store in the cellar and attic amid plans to start stripping the place clean and building walls and rooms. 

“How’d it go?” he asked, as Carol stopped in front of him.

“I think she gets the general idea,” Carol muttered, running her fingers through her hair.  Daryl smirked, and Carol rolled her eyes.

“So, you use the bees and pollination story or the medical textbook story?”

“I told her what things are called and how things work.  She looked kind of horrified, Daryl.  Maybe we told her too soon.  I mean, I was her age when I found out.”  She squinted at him.  “How old were you?”

“Six or seven.”

“Six or…what?!”

“Merle was a lot older, and I snooped in his room.  He had magazines.”

“This one better be a girl,” Carol snorted, rubbing her belly.  Daryl put his hands on either side of her belly, and he grinned.  He leaned in and gave her a kiss.  “So how are we doing this?”

“Doin’ what?”

“Telling everybody.  I mean, do we just blurt it out or sit them down like we did with Sophia?  I mean, this is going to impact the group.  Another mouth to feed, another…”

“Well, it ain’t like they got any choice in the matter,” Daryl pointed out.   Carol nodded, and she peeked over Daryl’s shoulder as Tyreese and Tara came walking out.  Daryl turned then, taking Carol’s hand in his.

“Carol,” Tyreese said with a nod.  “Barn’s almost emptied.”

“Already?” Carol asked, looking into the empty barn where Glenn had started raking up hay into a big pile outside the door.

“First winter’s gonna be rough,” Tyreese murmured.  “We’ll work fast.”  

“I saw this show on HGTV once where they converted this big, old barn into a house.  I mean, it had two stories, bedrooms, a working kitchen and a bathroom.  It was pretty sweet,” Tara offered. 

“Well, I’m not betting on it being that good, but we’ll be able to house more people, spread them out.  We’ll make it work.”  He started to turn back toward the barn.

“Ty,” Daryl called.  Tyreese turned back toward him.

“Might need to make a run into Atlanta before the weather turns,” Daryl offered.  “See what’s left, see if there’s anything worth grabbin’ from the hospitals.  Equipment, supplies.  Hell, maybe a damned doctor.  We could use another one of those around here.” 

“Sure,” Tyreese nodded, glancing between Carol and Daryl.  He noticed the little smile between them and cocked his head to the side.  “You want to bring more people in?”

“It couldn’t hurt.  More hands for building wouldn’t hurt,” Daryl offered.  “And Carol’s gonna be needin’ a doctor herself in a few months.  We’re, uh, we’re havin’ a baby.”

“You…I…I was startin’ to wonder,” Tyreese chuckled, reaching out to clasp Daryl’s hand in a handshake.  He pulled Carol into a hug.  “Congratulations.”

“A baby, huh?” Tara asked.  “That’s awesome.  I kinda figured, what with the baby belly and everything.”

“It’s not that obvious is it?”

“You hide it well, but I saw you holding your hand on her back when you were cooking the other day.  My sister used to stand like that when she was pregnant with my niece Megan.”   Carol gave her a little nod. 

“What’s up, guys?” Glenn asked, taking a break from raking hay.  He wiped the sweat from his brow, and squinted into the sunlight.

“Talking about the barn house and Carol’s baby.”

“Baby…what?” Glenn asked.  “You guys are having a baby?”  Carol nodded.  “That’s awesome!  Maggie’s gonna be thrilled.”

“Maggie already knows,” Carol chuckled. 

“It’s like a baby boom around here,” Tara snorted.  “First Michonne, now Carol.  Who’s next?”  Tara’s eyes widened, and she looked at Glenn.  “Dude, don’t let Maggie drink the water.”  Glenn’s face went pale for a moment before his cheeks flushed.  Thankfully, Tara didn’t know him well enough to know he was terrible at keeping secrets, but Carol and Daryl had gotten to know him over the past several weeks.  Carol quickly stepped up and distracted Tara before Glenn could spill Maggie’s secret.

“Tara, you want to help me bring some canned food up from the basement?”

“Sure,” Tara shrugged.  “Beats sneezing every five seconds.  Turns out, I have a hay allergy.  I guess that’s the kind of thing you don’t realize when you grow up in the city.”  Carol smiled then, and the two of them headed back into the house.  Tyreese headed off, leaving Glenn and Daryl standing alone. 

“A baby, huh?” Glenn asked again, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah.”

“That’s…that’s awesome, man.  Really.”  He stuffed his hands in his pockets.  “So, Maggie knows?”

“Guess so.”

“Does that…I mean, has Carol said anything?”

“About what?”

“Uh, nothing.  Nothing.”  Glenn glanced toward the house and then back to Daryl.  “You remember how I told you what…what I told you a while ago?”  Daryl stared at him.  “About…about Maggie maybe being…”  He took a deep breath, face turning red, and he scuffed the toe of his shoe in the red, clay dirt.  “You told me not to piss myself ‘til I had a reason?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, this is me, pissing myself.  Only, not literally.”

“So you’re sayin’…”

“Maggie’s pregnant.”  Daryl nodded then, but then Glenn’s face fell.

“You already know.”

“Maggie’s scared, too, man.  She told Carol, and Carol told me.”

“You didn’t say anything to anyone?”

“Ain’t my business,” Daryl said with a shrug.  But the helpless look on Glenn’s face had him looking back on when Carol was pregnant with Sophia.  He remembered being anxious, getting giddy that first time he felt the baby kick, freaking out the first time Carol had a Braxton Hicks contraction, though she didn’t deliver for almost a whole month after that.  He remembered waking up in a cold sweat on more than one occasion, terrified that he wasn’t going to be good enough, that everything would change like everybody said it would but not for the good.  He would have dark dreams about losing the baby or Carol and feeling absolutely broken before waking up and realizing it was all just a horrible dream.  And he’d been much older than Glenn and more sure of himself as a man and as a husband at that point. 

“Any advice?” Glenn asked, shifting his weight and staring pleadingly at Daryl.

“Best advice I can give you is to talk to Maggie.”

“I don’t wanna freak her out more than she already is.”

“Look, take my advice.  Don’t overdo it, but let her know what you’re thinkin’.  What you’re worried about.  If you bottle that shit up, you’re gonna start losin’ sleep.  Just tell her how freaked out you are, that ya don’t think ya have a clue what you’re doin’.  I can guarantee she’s probably gonna say the exact same thing right back to ya.  Nobody expects you to have all the answers.  Just be there for her.  Talk to her.”

“Is this one of those ‘learn from my mistakes’ speeches?’”

“Yeah.  Trust me.  Talk to her.  It’s gonna save you both a couple of pointless arguments and a few headaches.”

“Well, you guys seem like you figured it all out.  Sophia’s a good kid.”

“We’re still learnin’ everyday.  It ain’t like you get ‘em potty trained and walkin’ and everything just falls into place.  Ya gotta take each day as it comes.”

“You ever think about being a therapist?” Glenn asked.

“Hell no.”

“Well, if the cop thing hadn’t worked out, you’re actually pretty good at this giving advice thing.”  Daryl snorted at that, and Glenn laughed.  “Thanks.”  Daryl gave him a nod, and both men went back to their work.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

“You did good,” Daryl murmured, kissing the side of Carol’s head as everyone gathered around the bassinet to see Michonne’s new baby boy. 

“Me?  Michonne did all the work,” Carol snorted.  “Let’s give her a little credit here.”

“You know what I mean.  Beth and Maggie said things almost got bad in there.”  Carol nodded, gently tugging Daryl’s hand and leading him out into the hall. She leaned back against the wall and rubbed her tired eyes. 

“She started bleeding,” Carol murmured.  “Beth got scared.”  She shook her head.  “I shouldn’t have had her in there.”

“But she saw you keep calm and take charge of it.  She saw you help Michonne through it.  Now look.  Michonne’s good.  Baby’s good.”  He smiled a little.  “Think Rick’s good, too.  He damn near went pale as a ghost when he heard her start screamin’.”

“Did you see Carl’s face when he saw the baby?” Carol asked with a grin. 

“Yeah.  Thought maybe that would get him talkin’ again.”

“Give him time,” Carol insisted.  “Everybody deals with grief in their own way.  He’s close with Michonne, but that doesn’t make up for what he lost, you know?”  Daryl nodded and bowed his head for a moment before meeting her gaze. 

“When I woke up in that hospital and everything was crazy, all I could think was how I was never gonna see you again.  Those men were there, and I was sure I was dead.  They were gonna find me, and I was never gonna get to see you or Soph again.  Thought I was dead.  Then I woke up, and I knew.  You found me.”  Carol gave him a little smile then, stepping toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck.  She kissed him then, softly and slowly, and when they pulled apart, he rested his head against her forehead.  “Can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.”

“We need to find somebody for you.  Somebody to help if somethin’ goes wrong.”

“Nothing’s gonna go wrong.”

“You can say it all day long, but it don’t mean it won’t happen.  It could.  And I ain’t willin’ to risk it,” Daryl insisted.  “I’m gonna start goin’ out, lookin’ for more people.  Maybe get Rick and Ty to come along.” 

“Daryl…”

“It’s bad out there.  I know.  But there’s gotta still be good people out there. People that can help us.”  Carol nodded then.

“There has to be,” she agreed.  “But I don’t want you risking your life trying to find them.”

“That used to be my job.  Riskin’ my life to help other people.  I know what I’m doin’, and I always come back to you one way or another, right?”  Carol sighed and nodded.

“I just like having you close.  I like knowing you’re safe.”  Daryl chuckled then and kissed her softly.

“Yeah, I know.  And I will be.  Won’t take no risks that ain’t necessary, alright?”  Carol nodded.  “You’re not leaving now?”

“Not now,” he promised.  “Soon.  I’m pretty sure if I ask Rick to go with me now, he’s gonna say no.  I’ll give him a few days.”  Carol nodded, and she took Daryl’s hand. 

“I’m tired,” she whispered.

“Don’t doubt it.  We all could probably use some sleep.  Why don’t ya lie down?”

“Come with me?” she asked, a little pout rising on her lips.  Daryl grinned and gave her a kiss.  He squeezed her hand and led her down the hall to get a little shut-eye in the privacy of their room.

*~*~*~*~*

“Your dad really likes Michonne,” Sophia said softly, as she and Carl sat on the front porch.  “Is she gonna be your new mom?”  Carl glanced at Sophia and shrugged one shoulder.  “She’s pretty. And nice.  The baby’s really cute.”  Carl dragged a stick through the soil, tracing patterns through the grass.  “You miss your mom, huh?  My dad got hurt, and my mom found him at the hospital.  I thought he died.”  Sophia sighed softly, and she clutched her doll a little closer to her chest.  “Do you like having a little sister?”  Carl just nodded his head.  “I’m gonna have a new brother or sister, too.  Maybe when it gets here, you can help me.  I promised mom and dad I’d teach the baby all kinds of things.”  Carl just nodded, and Sophia sighed.  “I’m really sorry about your mom.”  She pulled her arms around him and gave him a quick hug before standing up and heading back into the house.

“Sophia?”  Carol asked, seeing her daughter glumly clomping up the stairs. “Honey?  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  I’m just sad Carl won’t talk to me.”

“I know, honey.  He will.”

“Just give him time.  I know,” Sophia murmured.  “I’m gonna play in my room.”

“Ok, honey.  I’ll call you when it’s time for supper.”  Sophia nodded and headed back up the stairs.  Carol peeked out onto the porch, seeing Carl sitting on the bottom porch step as he dug through the grass and dirt with a stick. 

She stepped outside, peering over at the barn where Tyreese, Daryl and Glenn were in the process of cutting up lumber they’d brought in from an old mill a couple of counties over.  They had already started putting up a framework to build walls and rooms in the old barn.

“What do you think, Carl?  You want your own room in the new house?”  Carl shrugged.  “You can stay in this house, if you’d like.  We just thought you might like to be close to your father.”  Carl shrugged again.  Carol sat down next to him on the steps.

“You know, I remember your very first day of kindergarten.”  Carl glanced up at her.  “Your mom spent all night fixing your favorite pair of jeans.  You didn’t want new jeans.  You wanted your jeans with the super hero patches on them.  But they were ripped and had been sitting at the bottom of the laundry basket for a month.  Your mom made sure they were clean and dry, and then she got to work patching up the holes.  You were so excited when she brought you to the drop off at school.   You thought she’d bought you a brand new pair, but she sat up for hours making them look brand new.  She was so proud of you and wanted you to be happy.”  Carl sighed.  “I remember last year when that boy was picking on Sophia at school.  You stood up for her. Sophia didn’t have a lot of friends, but she knew _you_ were her very best friend.  Sophia’s lucky to have a friend like you, Carl Grimes.” 

Carl looked up at Carol then, and his lower lip trembled.

 “Now I happen to know your favorite thing to do with your mom was help her in the kitchen when she made cake.  She mentioned something about how you liked to lick the chocolate batter off of the spoon.”  Carl grinned.  “Would you like to help me?  I think I can manage to whip up a chocolate cake from scratch.”  Carl’s eyes widened, and he nodded his head.  “Well, come on then.”  She stood and held out her hand.  Carl took it, and they headed into the house to the kitchen, where Carol chattered away, instructing Carl on just how much flour or cocoa to put in the bowl.  While he didn’t utter one word, she managed to get a little laugh out of him, and that was something.

By the time the cake was in the oven, Carl’s face was covered in chocolate, and he looked happier than she’d seen him since his group had arrived at the farm.


End file.
